Porsche backflips on first petrol particulate filter

The controversial petrol particulate filter developed as the next step in European emission controls is not coming to Australia after all.

Porsche, which had reported the first local installation of the system on its updated V6-engined Macan S, now says it is available but has not been ordered for local deliveries.

The backflip comes just two days after the company reported that the filter would be coming.

“The comments made about ongoing research and development on the topic are correct. But, in the end, we made the decision not to bring a petrol particulate filter,” Porsche spokesman, Chris Jordan, confirms to www.carsales.com.au

The Porsche news ends the potential conflict with other brands, including some inside the Volkswagen Group family that covers Skoda to Lamborghini and Bentley in Australia, over the filters.

They are considered unsuitable for Australia’s poor-quality unleaded fuel, which has a third-world sulphur content of up to 150 parts-per-million, will kill the filter and potentially damage the engine.

Most companies insist the cut-off to prevent problems is just 10 parts-per-million.

Even so, there are significant differences between the way particulate filters operate in diesel and petrol engines.

“Petrol exhaust temperatures are approximately 200 degrees hotter,” says Porsche’s technical chief, Paul Watson.

“In a diesel the exhaust temperature is lower. And that’s a problem, because we want to regenerate and clean it out, to incinerate the soot.

“In a petrol engine it’s much, much easier to generate exhaust gas temperature. And they run much hotter in any case.

Porsche says the upcoming 992-series 911 will not have a filter, although they are fitted in Europe, and avoids any diesel dramas because it has dropped diesels from its model line-up.

One of the reasons for the no-go for Australia is uncertainty over fuels.

“Fuel quality is part of it. And consistency of fuel quality,” says Jordan.

“We still don’t have the 100 per cent surety . No-one in this part of the world gets it. No-one in our region gets the filter.”

Porsche is now re-aligned with Volkswagen, which has been one of the brands that has been agitating for better-quality fuel in Australia.

“As of today we are told that Australian petrol remains an issue for our vehicles,” Volkswagen Group spokesman, Paul Pottinger, tells www.carsales.com.au

“Certainly, means are being sought to make petrol particulate filters work with our highly-sulphurous petrol, which is the among the worst in the OECD, but this is by no means guaranteed.

“This would very likely entail a specific solution for this market and the associated costs are precisely what car companies want to avoid passing on to customers. The alternative would be to keep alive engine variants that are being supplanted in
Europe. That is the current scenario and it too comes at a cost.”

Volkswagen, like many other members of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries including Toyota and Holden, has been lobbying in Canberra to get the fuel standard for Australia improved, despite resistance from the Australian Institute of Petroleum because of the high cost of improving its oil refineries.

“Of course, none of this would be an issue if the AIP did not oppose the introduction of first-world petrol with less than 10 parts per million of sulphur. It wants this held back until 2027,” Pottinger says.

“Yet there is nothing to prevent oil companies importing first-world standard petrol and installing it on service station forecourts in place of what currently passes for premium unleaded. Europeans car customers, and numbers in Asian brands, already have to pay the considerable impost charged per litre for premium because basic petrol (91RON and E10) has 150ppm.

“The majority of petrol sold in Australia is imported, so there is no reason why European standard petrol could not be imported at a negligible costs at the bowser. Surely better fuel quality is in everyone’s interest.”

At Porsche, research into the installation and operation of the filters is continuing but there is nothing approaching a timetable for an arrival in Australia.

“It’s a no, until it’s a yes,” says Jordan.