[MotoKris]

Not very sure about CNG but I have seen the following vehicles with LPG option from the factory:

800
Omni Cargo
WagonR

Santro
Accent

Spark

Cedia

Originally Posted by GTO

Why have CNG & LPG not clicked in the market?

The biggest problem is the availability. There are very few fuel stations for LPG (CNG is not popular here like in Delhi & Mumbai) and getting permission to setup AutoLPG fuel station is a tough task. I used an LPG car for some time and it wasn't easy. My uncle was using LPG kit in his Amby with Isuzu petrol engine and it runs better with LPG than with Petrol. He took the kit off his car as there was no use running with it due to lack of filling stations.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by GTO

This one leaves me baffled. I mean, all our market seems to care about is FE and low of running. The percentage of diesels amongst passenger cars is shooting skyward each quarter, thanks in part to the wider choice available (including our national engine the 1.3 MJD).

Why have CNG & LPG not clicked in the market? CNG is by far the cheapest fuel to run your car on. And LPG prices may have shot up in the recent past...but even when Auto LPG was cheaper, it never really clicked as much as it should have. Even with the current pricing, LPG is on par with diesel. But gives you lower cost of acquisition, refinement and the ability to switch over to petrol (when you want to high-revv . What's the real deterrent? Of course, we have a thread on that too Linky. I'm still not entirely convinced....there is a need for greater awareness.

Of course, our auto manufacturers, being what they are, will only REACT (forget about pro-activeness).

My understanding on why CNG/LPG are not very popular:
1. Loss of boot space
2. with LPG, savings is 10-20% max, coupled with slight performance drop and loss of boot space, it is only marginally popular
3. CNG - biggest problem with CNG in my opinion is that we can fill only 8 KG or so in one go. That would run for 160 KM typically, and would limit the range of your vehicle severely. Also you have to be in queue with autowalas at gas pump ( that too very frequently if your daily run is high), and it would be a real hassle.

My experience with CNG:
I used to drive CNG converted Maruti 800 one year back and every 2nd day I was at pump, could not live with it. Other problem faced ( may be with tuning of my car/kit) was that car performance dropped considerably and also that when CNG is almost empty, idling speed would drop and car would stop at signals.

So sold that off and am driving Accent/Wagon R ( completely on Patrol) - Wagon R is driven by wife.

Regards,

JLS

[mrkanitkar]

Santro have CNG kit option. I don't understand onething, Delhi & Mumbai are big markets for cars, both have CNG stations then why not factory fitted CNG? Do they want to save on suspension change? Why Maruti have CNG Alto in Delhi and not in Mumbai? If manufacturer don't want to give factory fitted one, they should at least support warrenty for people who will have after market kit. My brother have Wagon R LPG, he later realised, the LPG model was not having most of features he want. He leftout with options VXI with Petrol or LPG with lowest end features. CNG/ LPG car don't mean customer want low end features as well.
This reminds me old Santo gave AT feature in one level below top trim.

[Parm]

factory fitted kits is like making car bombs for terrorists!

only one small cigarette can blast the car with a leaking kit!

[MotoKris]

Originally Posted by Parm

factory fitted kits is like making car bombs for terrorists!

only one small cigarette can blast the car with a leaking kit!

But to generate that leak is not that easy in a properly installed kit.. That is the reason we need factory kits and not those shoddy after-market jobs. There was a booklet from MTNL that I saw about 9 years back. LPG in a tank or in a properly laid gas pipeline is much safer than petrol in a tank.

[thainogkok]

IMHO, we don't have enough CNG/LPG station that can supply the large volume
of CNG/LPG equipt car.
the car maker also see that the demand of factory's CNG/LPG build car will not
be in large volume that good enough to invest in a factory's CNG/LPG build car too.

many newwhen next few year the new cng/lpg station is ready and car company will build factory cng/lpg car.

[smooth]

Chevrolet has launched Aveo CNG (Sequential Injection kit).
Details are here with pic:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1669291-post5.html

[Tech]

Such an old thread! It’s not surprising that CNG segment is not popular in India as most of the CNG pumps are filled with Taxis only. In fact, they should have separate pumps for taxis altogether.

Consumers still don't have many choices. Back in pre-2010 days Maruti used to strictly prevent customers from using CNG on their cars by saying your warranty will be void and engine will get degraded or it’s not good for the car engine. No such things happened even when customers voided their warranties and ironically today most of the cars selling factory fitted CNG options are from Maruti. Other manufacturers are however least bothered even when petrol and diesel prices are over the roof.