Australia to miss out on LPG Golf
BY JAMES STANFORD | 22nd Jun 2009
While the BiFuel LPG vehicle is offered as a hatchback or Plus wagon in Europe, it will be built only in left-hand drive.
Volkswagen Australia spokesman Karl Gehling told GoAuto the LPG Golf would not be available in Australia in the short term.
“We would like to offer an LPG dual-fuel vehicle in Australia given the extensive LPG network, but at the moment the vehicle is only produced in left-hand drive,” he said.
Volkswagen Australia has told VW management in Germany of its interest in the LPG Golf, but the company is unlikely to make the investment to produce a right-hand drive version of the car unless several other RHD countries put their hands up for the car.
“There would need to be significantly more interest from other right-hand drive countries than there is at the moment,” he said.
The VW LPG BiFuel Golf hatch was first shown at the Bologna motor show last December, and the company has since offered the feature with the Plus wagon version.
They are the first VW vehicles with a factory fitted LPG dual-fuel system.
The cars can run on either petrol or LPG. They use a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine delivering 71kW and consuming 7.5 litres per 100km when running on petrol or 9.8L/100km on LPG.
VW says running the car on LPG instead of petrol would save the driver $10.60 per 100km in Germany, thanks to LPG’s lower tax rate.
Using LPG would also mean the cars produced 10 per cent less emissions.