Hyundai Australia executives have visited South Korea to evaluate a new hybrid LPG version of the Elantra that could use as little as $10 a week in fuel. By Richard Blackburn.




Hyundai is "seriously considering" selling a hybrid LPG vehicle in Australia.
The car, which is due on sale in Korea in the middle of 2009, would have easily the lowest operating costs of any car in Australia, costing roughly $10 a week. Hyundai won't confirm the cost of the car, but it is likely to be priced around the $AU30,000 mark.
Its fuel consumption is expected to be slightly higher than Toyota’s hybrid petrol-electric Prius, but with LPG selling for up to 90c a litre less than petrol, the small Hyundai’s annual fuel costs would be less than half those of a Prius and five times lower than Australia’s top-selling car, the Holden Commodore. The Hyundai could travel close to 300km on $10 worth of fuel.
Hyundai’s director of sales and marketing, Kevin McCann, says the hybrid, which is based on the same platform as the Hyundai Elantra small car, is under the microscope for local introduction.
"The situation is that while we would not like to be announcing that we are definitely bringing it here, it is under serious consideration," he says.
"There are a number of things to be clarified. We need to weigh up things like the cost and how it would be accepted by consumers, but it looks like a very viable alternative."
Hyundai Australia executives visited Korea two weeks ago to see the vehicle and to be briefed on technical specifications.
McCann refused to reveal the details of that trip, but says a hybrid LPG makes sense to both Australia and Korea.
"One of the interesting things we have in Australia and Korea is an established LPG infrastructure which gives it a significant advantage over the other alternative fuels," he says.
Australia is self-sufficient in LPG and there are more than 3200 LPG filling stations around the country.
The launch date of the new car in Korea has been brought forward by several months to the middle of 2009 after Hyundai successfully lobbied the Korean Government to provide a rebate system for private buyers, similar to the one that operates in Australia.
If the LPG hybrid car makes it to Australia, customers will be eligible to a $1000 rebate from the Federal Government.
Hyundai has already put roughly 100 hybrid LPG prototypes through performance tests and is in the process of final validation of the system.
The Elantra hybrid is believed to use a 1.6-litre LPG-powered engine, backed up by a 15kW electric motor, driven through a continuously variable transmission. The LPG hybrid car has a lithium-ion battery supplied by LG Chemical Ltd.

 

Here is a related press release:

http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/c...d_2008_23.html