Brochure mileage figures are useless to a taxi operator. They come from test cycles with one occupant, no air conditioning and gentle driving — the opposite of commercial reality. What follows are real-world figures from vehicles running full-time commercially with passengers, luggage and the air conditioning on, converted into the number that actually matters: cost per kilometre.
Fuel prices used throughout: petrol ₹100 per litre, diesel ₹92 per litre, CNG ₹95 per kilogram. Adjust proportionally for your city.
CNG: The Cheapest Per Kilometre
- Maruti WagonR CNG: 28–31 km/kg, roughly ₹3.10/km
- Maruti Alto CNG: 30–33 km/kg, roughly ₹2.90/km — the lowest running cost of any taxi in India
- Maruti Swift Dzire Tour CNG: 26–28 km/kg, roughly ₹3.45/km
- Hyundai Xcent Prime / Aura CNG: 24–26 km/kg, roughly ₹3.75/km
- Maruti Ertiga CNG (7-seater): 20–22 km/kg, roughly ₹4.50/km
CNG wins on pure cost per kilometre, but with three caveats: reduced boot space because of the cylinder, noticeably less power when fully loaded, and dependence on a filling network that is dense in Delhi NCR and Gujarat but thin in much of the country.
Hybrid: The Surprise Performer in City Traffic
- Toyota Innova Hycross hybrid: 19–23 kmpl city, roughly ₹4.50/km
- Toyota Camry Hybrid: 19–23 kmpl, roughly ₹4.60/km
- Maruti Grand Vitara / Invicto hybrid variants: 20–24 kmpl, roughly ₹4.35/km
The counter-intuitive result is that a hybrid 7-seater can match a CNG 7-seater on fuel cost while carrying more, going further between fills and driving considerably better. Hybrids do their best work in exactly the crawling city traffic where conventional engines do their worst.
Diesel: Still the Outstation Choice
- Honda Amaze 1.5 i-DTEC: 22–25 kmpl, roughly ₹3.85/km
- Maruti Swift Dzire diesel: 20–22 kmpl, roughly ₹4.35/km
- Toyota Etios diesel: 19–22 kmpl, roughly ₹4.50/km
- Toyota Innova Crysta 2.4 diesel: 11–14 kmpl, roughly ₹7.35/km
- Mahindra Marazzo: 13–16 kmpl, roughly ₹6.30/km
Diesel's advantage is not economy any more — it is torque, range and highway behaviour under load. A Crysta costs more than double an Alto per kilometre, but it also earns two to three times the tariff and can do 600 km in a day without complaint.
What This Means in Monthly Rupees
At 3,000 km a month, which is typical for a full-time city taxi, the spread between the cheapest and the most expensive option is the difference between a viable business and a marginal one.
- Alto CNG: approximately ₹8,700 per month in fuel
- Dzire Tour CNG: approximately ₹10,350 per month
- Honda Amaze diesel: approximately ₹11,550 per month
- Ertiga CNG: approximately ₹13,500 per month
- Innova Hycross hybrid: approximately ₹13,500 per month
- Innova Crysta diesel: approximately ₹22,050 per month
Choosing on More Than Mileage
The lowest cost per kilometre does not automatically produce the highest profit. An Alto CNG is the cheapest vehicle to run in India, but it cannot take an airport booking with two suitcases or command an outstation tariff. The right question is not which taxi gives the best mileage, but which gives the best mileage within the segment you intend to earn in.