Dedicated LPG for Holden Commodore in 2012

Holden is hot on the heels of archrival Ford with plans to offer a dedicated LPG fuel system for the Commodore early in the new year.

The new variants will address the principal bug-bear of dual-fuel cars offered in the past: lack of boot space. Holden engineers are putting the final touches on the single-fuel option, says Director of Energy, Environment and Technology at Holden, Richard Marshall — and more will be revealed closer to the launch of the new fuel system.

"They've been able to address the biggest single factor that keeps coming up with LPG; and that's the tank in the boot," he told the press last week, during a promotional event for the Volt. "They've been able to get rid of the tank in the boot by going to a dedicated system. They've been able to optimise the engine to run on LPG so it goes better, [with] better fuel consumption, lower emissions — and all up, it's just a much more compelling package."

With little further word from Marshall, but given his specific mention of the boot space liberated by the new system, the gas tank(s) are likely to be located under the floor of the boot, ahead of the rear axle. This would pave the way for the centre skiport to remain functional and would allow the system to be offered in the Sportwagon models also. Holden has located fuel tanks ahead of the rear axle in locally-designed cars — for safety reasons — ever since the VZ Monaro, which was sold in the safety-conscious USA as the 2005 Pontiac GTO.

Full accessibility to the boot through the skiport and a spare wheel well for a full-size spare could provide Holden with a significant marketing advantage against Ford's EcoLPI Falcon, with its gas tank under the floor of the boot aft of the axle — displacing the spare tyre from its location in petrol-engined models. For the moment though, nothing is certain.

"We'll talk more about the specifics of LPG next year," said Marshall, "but we did want to mention it here today, because this is another piece of the puzzle to give you all the flexibility of a large vehicle, with the running costs of a small car."

The Holden exec, who has driven the single-fuel cars aleady, said that there was nothing like walking up to the console operator and spending $36, when others are handing over hundred-dollar notes. Marshall had one further nugget of information to offer on the subject of the new fuel system.

"We obviously have done quite a bit of work to address a lot of the shortcomings or impediments to the previous model; the range it was actually available on was one of those concerns, as was the tank in the boot."

So expect to see the option available with sedan and Sportwagon variants of the Omega/Berlina models and the sports/Calais models. And as the engine closest in size to the inline six powering the EcoLPI Falcon, the 3.6-litre V6 seems the unit likeliest to be optimised for the dedicated LPG option.

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