HSV LPG Performance car on the way
Of all the cars you'd expect HSV to make, one powered by LPG wasn't on the top of our list, in fact it doesn't seem to be on the top of anyone's list. Surveys by current HSV owners has shown that fuel economy is not in the top 10 concerns, HSV dealers have also said they are not interested in LPG, nonetheless, it's coming next year.
The LPG-powered car will be based on HSV's V8-powered performance cars and should hit the market some time next year.
“I’ve done a survey with my dealers and they’ve told me they don’t want it and I said ‘I don’t believe you’, so I’m doing this program without a solid customer demand for it. But I know that we started this program when petrol was $1.60 and heading north, and does anyone want to speculate that that won’t come back? My philosophy is that I’ve got to have that (LPG) in the cupboard. If we start off and people don’t option it, that’s fine, but there will come a point where they will.” HSV's boss Phil Harding told The Age.
The idea is to compete with the Europeans who are now producing cars with similar or more power than the Aussie performance brand but with much better fuel economy and lower emissions.
HSV concluded that LPG is the more viable option over diesel when it comes to a fuel economical performance car. Mr Harding says the company seriously did consider the diesel idea having even built an engineering prototype with a diesel engine in it but the numbers just didn't stack up.
The LPG system will be available as a cost option on all models in the HSV stable bar the R8 Tourer.
Do you think HSV's LPG models will succeed? Does a brand such as HSV even need to worry about fuel economy?
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