Volkswagen considers LPG future

The search for leaner and greener cars has led to Volkswagen Australia to consider the BiFuel Golf as an addition to its local line-up. Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Jutta Dierks revealed to the Carsales Network that the LPG-powered car is under review as the Federal Government continues to offer financial incentives and the local infrastructure makes LPG an appealing and practical alternative fuel technology.

Volkswagen unveiled the BiFuel Golf at last December's Bologna Motor Show in Italy with the German market the key target. The car uses a 72kW 1.6-litre four cylinder engine that (as the name suggests) can run on either regular petrol or LPG. Importantly the system is factory fitted with crash testing and engine modifications carried out by VW.

Dierks admitted at this week's Passat CC launch that the car was on the agenda but stressed no decision has been taken. She also said that Volkswagen's Bluemotion vehicles were also under consideration as the company looks to cut its fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

"We will look at that, definitely," Dierks says. "It only came up recently that there should be something factory fitted because we didn't want an aftermarket solution for LPG. As a small importer you just cannot organize that with that long pipeline. To do something here and then sell it to other countries you just can't do that, you just kill yourself in the process. But if there is a factory fitted LPG system for any car -- and I probably think it's for Golf -- that would be interesting for us."

Between the 55-litre petrol tank and 41-litre LPG tank VW claims the BiFuel has a combined total range of 1,100km. Fuel consumption is 7.1L/100km running on LPG and 9.2L/100km running on petrol.

The critical factor according to Dierks will be pricing. Even with the Government's $2000 incentive for cars fitted with the technology, she indicated that planning was still too early to make any definitive comments.

"At the end of the day we need to look at if we can bring it in at a price people can afford to buy it," she says. "But it is nice to at least have an alternative; then you can make a decision if it makes sense or not. That is the nice thing with our company; basically you can look into almost everything. Sometimes we don't bring it in because it doesn't make sense on the financial side, sometimes it fits our market perfectly. So what we usually do is look at everything and then make a decision; with a volume like ours does, it make sense to bring it in or not? Or do we need to drive a certain trend like diesels in Australia or LPG -- or things like that. That gives us the freedom to make a strategic decision."