Aussie: Diesels Uber Alles?
There may be trouble ahead for Australian car makers who don’t offer diesel-powered large cars. According to GoAuto, a Roy Morgan Research survey indicates that some 38.2 percent of current large car owners say they’ll “seriously consider” a diesel model for their next car. If all 38.2 percent of these large car owners purchase oil burners, GoAuto figures “Ford, Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi could stand to lose more than 100,000 sales combined a year.” GM’s Holden division begs to differ. After pointing out how a diesel-powered car typically commands a price premium in excess of $1K, mouthpiece John Lindsay goes for the financial jugular. “They are interesting statistics, but I think there is a follow-up question that needs to be asked – how much are they prepared to pay for it?” With unleaded gas in Melbourne averaging AU$1.27 per liter, some Australians might consider Lindsay’s comments to be a bit shonky.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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Here in the US Honda offers a Civic factory equipped to run on natural gas. From the Honda Australia website it doesn't look like they offer it there. This seems strange if conversions are popular in Australia. Here in the US some government fleets are partially powered by natural gas, but very few individuals do conversions. http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-gx/
The problem with Diesel in Australia is that it's usually quite expensive compared to petrol. We have a weekly discounting cycle with Thursdays being the most expensive and Tuesdays the cheapest. The price difference can be up to 10%. Diesel does not participate in the cycle at all. This week on Thursday the price here in Adelaide was $1.29 for petrol and the same for Diesel. But today petrol has followed the cycle and is down to $1.20 while Diesel is stuck at $1.29. Diesel is 30% more efficient but very regularly petrol can be purchased 10% cheaper. Add to that the huge price premiums charged for Diesel cars here and it doesn't make sense to go Diesel in Australia. A petrol Ford Focus is around AUD$22k, or AUD$28k for the same specification with Diesel. Astra is AUD$25k, or AUD$30k for Diesel. The local car brands are selling Diesel cars as a 'premium luxury' choice in Australia, which Europeans would find ludicrous. LPG is the better choice due to the government's generous tax subsidy (although a tax of 12.5c/L is being phased in over the next few years). Although more LPG is required to go the same distance, the price difference more than makes up for it. A Ford Falcon (large V6 sedan) consumes around 15L of LPG, or 11L of petrol per 100km.
I believe I've read that Hyundai offer factory built Propane fuelled cars including their Trajet minivan (smaller than the US market "Kia" based "minivan" - and what exactly is "mini" about a van weighing in at almost two tons?!) Think the Sonata can be factory built with Propane fuel only, as well. Hyundai India could supply propane fuelled cars to Australia, and with fuel 1/3 the price of diesel and petrol, even with a 10-15% reduction in efficiency (perhaps only 5-10% in a dedicated Propane fuelled car?) Hyundai could make a lot of conquest sales. Especially since the new Sonata is virtually as large inside as the way less efficient Ford Falcon, equivalent Holden and big Mitsubishi. Hyundai is a bit of a sleeper. Diesels (including a 2.2 150horsepower turbo-intercooled unit), propane, soon electric hybrids (using a Honda lower tech style rather than Toyota style), and fuel cell development. Detroit Inc execs should be in a cold sweat every time "Hyundai" is mentioned, in my humble opionion.