Ext User(Ben Thomas)
19-08-2006, 04:27 AM
Hi all,
Here's an article I just saw on Drive.com.au. Perhaps AVS gas installers
weren't lying when they said the same about my Renault.
Ben
------------------------------------------
Only six of Australia’s top 20 best-selling vehicles can be converted to
LPG, according to the official LPG Autogas website, meaning the Federal
Government’s recent conversion rebate offer is irrelevant to many
Australians.
While owners of top-20 residents the Holden Commdore, Ford Falcon and
Territory, Subaru Forester, and Toyota Camry and Prado can benefit from
a government tax-free grant to save $2000 on the cost of converting
their vehicle to LPG, owners of increasingly popular small cars –
including Australia’s current favourite car, the Toyota Corolla – won’t
have the choice to switch to the gas that can save up to 60 percent on
regular unleaded petrol.
But Stewart Thompson, sales manager for LPG Conversions in Victoria,
says it’s not a question of being able to fit small cars with LPG
systems but whether the manufacturers are willing to hand over a vehicle
for emissions testing. “For us, as an [LPG] wholesaler, to test a car
[for emissions] could cost between $5000 and $15,000, depending on the
car. And if you’ve got to buy the car because you can’t actually get one
[from the manufacturer], well it’s even more expensive again.
“I don’t think the manufacturers are keen to hand vehicles over to the
aftermarket [industry]. When I say that, I mean they want to say, ‘We
approve this LPG kit only, or this bumper bar only.’ They don’t want 10
different [aftermarket] options out there, and particularly when it
comes to the drivetrain. That may change in the current light, and I
hope it does, because if they want to sell cars, [the car makers] will
definitely want to be LPG-friendly.”
And if manufacturers remain reluctant about making their cars available
for testing, companies such as LPG Conversions – one of only about a
dozen or so Autogas-kit distributors in Australia – will continue to
focus only on vehicles they believe will earn them a profit.
“[We’ve] got to go to the cars where there will be demand for
conversions. You’re looking at Commodore, Falcon, the top two, then
there’s the Magna [380], Camry, Hi-Lux, Hi-Ace, and the Ford Territory,
too. That’s why we pick the larger engines, which are not so economical.
"Or even a commercial four-cylinder [vehicle], which is doing a lot more
kays, and is not as economical because it’s laden with a load. That type
of car would be one of our priorities, but not necessarily [a small car
like] the Honda Civic, because the amount of interest is just not there.”
And Thompson says he’s not convinced, despite the government grants,
that demand will increase for small cars to be fitted with an LPG kit,
because of the economics. “[A small car] probably only uses about $40 a
week on fuel, and to recover the cost to do the conversion probably
wouldn’t be on the same scale as a Ford Falcon.”
Here's an article I just saw on Drive.com.au. Perhaps AVS gas installers
weren't lying when they said the same about my Renault.
Ben
------------------------------------------
Only six of Australia’s top 20 best-selling vehicles can be converted to
LPG, according to the official LPG Autogas website, meaning the Federal
Government’s recent conversion rebate offer is irrelevant to many
Australians.
While owners of top-20 residents the Holden Commdore, Ford Falcon and
Territory, Subaru Forester, and Toyota Camry and Prado can benefit from
a government tax-free grant to save $2000 on the cost of converting
their vehicle to LPG, owners of increasingly popular small cars –
including Australia’s current favourite car, the Toyota Corolla – won’t
have the choice to switch to the gas that can save up to 60 percent on
regular unleaded petrol.
But Stewart Thompson, sales manager for LPG Conversions in Victoria,
says it’s not a question of being able to fit small cars with LPG
systems but whether the manufacturers are willing to hand over a vehicle
for emissions testing. “For us, as an [LPG] wholesaler, to test a car
[for emissions] could cost between $5000 and $15,000, depending on the
car. And if you’ve got to buy the car because you can’t actually get one
[from the manufacturer], well it’s even more expensive again.
“I don’t think the manufacturers are keen to hand vehicles over to the
aftermarket [industry]. When I say that, I mean they want to say, ‘We
approve this LPG kit only, or this bumper bar only.’ They don’t want 10
different [aftermarket] options out there, and particularly when it
comes to the drivetrain. That may change in the current light, and I
hope it does, because if they want to sell cars, [the car makers] will
definitely want to be LPG-friendly.”
And if manufacturers remain reluctant about making their cars available
for testing, companies such as LPG Conversions – one of only about a
dozen or so Autogas-kit distributors in Australia – will continue to
focus only on vehicles they believe will earn them a profit.
“[We’ve] got to go to the cars where there will be demand for
conversions. You’re looking at Commodore, Falcon, the top two, then
there’s the Magna [380], Camry, Hi-Lux, Hi-Ace, and the Ford Territory,
too. That’s why we pick the larger engines, which are not so economical.
"Or even a commercial four-cylinder [vehicle], which is doing a lot more
kays, and is not as economical because it’s laden with a load. That type
of car would be one of our priorities, but not necessarily [a small car
like] the Honda Civic, because the amount of interest is just not there.”
And Thompson says he’s not convinced, despite the government grants,
that demand will increase for small cars to be fitted with an LPG kit,
because of the economics. “[A small car] probably only uses about $40 a
week on fuel, and to recover the cost to do the conversion probably
wouldn’t be on the same scale as a Ford Falcon.”