Dacia is launching a factory-fitted dual-fuel system across its range, with availability covering the Duster, Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Logan MCV and Logan MCV Stepway. It’s the only car manufacturer to offer an LPG system in the UK.
The new 1.0-litre bi-fuel 100 engine can use either petrol or LPG. This delivers reduced fuel costs, lower emissions and improved performance. Dacia claims drivers could save near-on £600 per year if they buy the bi-fuel model over standard petrol variants, when covering an average of 12,000 miles per year.
In ‘LPG Mode’, a Sandero Stepway will deliver 39.8mpg and emissions of 116g/km. This represents a drop of nine percent compared with the petrol model. The Duster saves even more, improving its CO2 figure by 11 percent, returning 129g/km and 35.3mpg.
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What’s needed to ready a car for LPG consumption? There’s now a large high-strength steel LPG tank where the spare wheel used to be. It’s 32 litres in the Sandero and Logan, and 34 litres in the Duster. None of the above suffer in terms of boot space for having an LPG tank.
If you combine both petrol and LPG with full tanks, a combined range of over 600 miles is possible. The popularity of the technology was first seen in Europe. In Italy, one in three Dacia vehicles is fitted with the system.
Given that it’s an in-house offering, work is done on the production line and no delays are expected. Servicing intervals remain similar to those of petrol or diesel variants. Bi-fuel models will come with a 60,000-mile three-year warranty as standard, similar to other Dacia models.
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The system will be on sale this month. The Sandero starts from £9,095, the Logan from £10,595 and the Duster from £12,895.
“The Dacia range is all about delivering value for money without compromising on quality and running costs, and the introduction of LPG models to the UK reinforces this ethos,” said Luke Broad, head of brand for Dacia UK.
“The technology is proven in Dacia products and the new 1.0-litre bi-fuel engine is an impressive piece of engineering which has been developed to fulfil all of the criteria expected of models like the Duster, Sandero and Logan MCV. With this new LPG engine, plus our petrol and diesel powertrains, we have the perfect Dacia model for any customer, no matter what they are looking for.”