DN-01 - features - New Honda motorcycles for 2008

Dealers gear up for sales with 2 new CNG stations set to open; they also plan to introduce cars that can run on both gas, petrol

FROM SINGLE TO BI-FUEL:
WITH a pair of compressed natural gas stations poised to open within the next two months, car dealers are gearing up to sell vehicles that can run on the cheap, clean-burning fuel.

General Motors, Ford, Fiat and Citroen dealers are working to introduce cars fitted with kits which will allow them to run on either the gas - known as CNG - or petrol.

Meanwhile, some importers have already started selling such vehicles, including Car Times in Kampong Ubi.

'With petrol prices so high, I think demand for CNG cars will be very strong,' said managing director Eddie Loo.

New cars which run on gas are eligible for a 40 per cent rebate on registration fees.

This translates to savings ranging from $6,500 for a Toyota Corolla to $81,000 for a Bentley Continental GT. Retrofitting the cars to run on gas starts at around $3,000.

Compressed gas is also much cheaper than conventional petrol.

It costs about 80 cents for the equivalent of a litre, versus $1.90 for petrol. For a car that travels 20,000km a year, that translates to about $2,000 in savings.

A gas-powered car emits about 20 per cent less carbon dioxide than one that runs on petrol. It also produces less carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.

Mr Alvyn Ang, general manager of operations at Cycle & Carriage, said his company has converted one Citroen C5 for a feasibility study, and findings have been favourable.

'It's feasible,' he said, but did not reveal when he would start selling CNG Citroens.

Vantage Automotive managing director Say Kwee Neng is exploring the option of converting the Ford S-Max seven-seater.

'We're looking at the technicalities, and are in talks with Ford Motor,' he said. 'From an environmental perspective, it is really encouraging.'

Fiat distributor TTS Eurocars plans to bring in a range of bi-fuel Panoramas in June.

While authorised agents are mulling things over, parallel importers have already started selling converted cars. One, Pinnacle Motors, collected about 80 orders over the weekend, but is facing a dilemma: a shortage of conversion kits.

Meanwhile, customers who have collected their new 'green' cars seem happy.

Businessman Frank Phuan, 31, bought a bi-fuel Toyota Harrier SUV from Car Times for $105,000, some $7,000 less than a petrol-only model.

'It's a pretty good deal,' he said. 'I live in Jurong East, so I'm just five to 10 minutes away from the new CNG station coming up in Jalan Buroh.' The station is expected to open later this month, with another one coming up in Mandai Link next month.

He said a full tank of gas costs him $10 and gets him close to 200km, whereas a tank of petrol costs him $125 and gives him about 500km.

The Land Transport Authority warned that converted cars must comply with technical requirements on safety, performance and emissions. These requirements are issued to the companies doing the conversions.

'It is an offence to modify the fuel system of a vehicle without LTA's approval,' an LTA spokesman said. 'First-time offenders are liable to a fine of up to $1,000 or a jail term of up to three months.'

The two new CNG refuelling stations coming up in the next few weeks are just the start. Industry observers expect another to start pumping by the third quarter.

The authorities envisage six in the near term.

That should be good news to the 1,000 or so owners of gas vehicles here.

High petrol prices, green rebate help steer over 400 to compressed natural gas-powered vehicles

SMALL CHANGE? NOT REALLY.

STEP on the gas. More motorists are choosing to do exactly that these days.

More than 220 have had their cars converted to run on both compressed natural gas (CNG) and petrol.

About 200 more have bought manufacturer-assembled petrol-CNG passenger cars, also called 'bi-fuel' cars.

Out to save the earth and save some money too, they say high petrol prices plus a generous green tax rebate helped them make the switch.

The trend started late last year, when passenger cars were allowed to be fitted to run on CNG as well as petrol.

Most conversions were done initially by German company C Melchers GmBH and local firm Scantruck Engineering, both of which started conversions in earnest late last year at their respective workshops in Sungei Kadut and Tuas.

Two other firms have started offering the service - parallel importer Mova Automotive and Thai company SO NGV.

Most of the directly imported bi-fuel cars are Mercedes-Benzes.

Converting a car costs from around $3,000 and involves installing a gas tank, pipings to the engine, and a refuelling intake.

But customers usually recoup their outlay within two years as CNG retails at around 78 cents an equivalent litre. Petrol goes for about $1.90 a litre.

Product manager Lim Sim Leng, 45, owner of a converted Mercedes-Benz Vito van, readily attests to this.

'A tank of CNG costs me $11, and will give me 190 to 200km. Using petrol for the same distance, I would have to spend at least double that,' he said.

A petrol-electric hybrid car like the Toyota Prius would chalk up about 8.4 cents per km, compared with 7 cents for a car running on CNG and 18 cents for a conventional petrol car.

Information technology manager Adrian Koh, 34, noticed a slight power loss in his Chevrolet Optra after it was converted. 'But I don't mind since I don't drive like a race car driver,' he said.

Project manager Ang Kwang Wee, 46, was impressed by his savings. 'I never knew the mileage was so good. I travelled 2,350km last month and my total fuel spending was $227.

'If I had used only petrol, I would have spent over $440.'

He is happy his Toyota Picnic is able to accommodate the gas tank beneath the floor of the boot - which means the car still has decent boot space left.

A big incentive for conversion is the green tax break. New cars which can run on CNG are accorded a rebate equivalent to 40 percentage points of their additional registration fee.

In the case of a car like the Porsche Cayman - which businessman W.K. Chin, 38, is converting - it could work out to a saving of around $30,000 on the purchase price.

It was curiosity which led him to choose gas. 'I wanted to try something new,' he said. He found out about CNG conversions just as he was about to buy his Porsche.

This particular conversion - undertaken by Scantruck - is taking a little longer than usual because the authorities wanted to make sure the gas tank had a capacity of at least 50 litres - to ensure that owners are serious about their 'green' intentions.

To comply, Mr Chin's Porsche had to be installed with two carbon-fibre gas tanks, as a single large steel tank cannot be fitted without a huge weight penalty.

Mr Gilbert von der Aue, sales manager at Melchers, said he expects demand for conversion to go up when gas-refuelling facilities at Singapore Petroleum Company's Jalan Buroh station opens in the new year and Smart Energy's station in Mandai opens in February.

Currently, there is only one CNG kiosk: on Jurong Island.

'With current petrol prices, we expect demand for conversion to be high,' he said.

Honda DN-01 price announced in Japan

Honda has announced the price of its new DN-01 automatic motorcycle - but only in Japan.

Over there, the innovative machine with its hydraulic drive system will cost 1,239,000 Yen, which translates to £6000.

While the official line from Honda is that the bike will cost between £8000 and £10,000 in the UK, the relatively low Japanese price suggests it will be nearer the bottom end of that scale.

The Japanese price puts the DN-01 between the firm's CBR600RR and CBR1000RR as far as cost is concerned, suggesting that in the UK, once import costs and taxes are taken into account, it's likely to be around £8000.

Are cheaper cars on the way?

The recent tax cuts might look attractive, but they also diminish a car’s residual value

CAR DEALERS AND buyers alike have welcomed the news of an impending reduction in the additional registration fee (ARF) for cars.

Transport minister Raymond Lim last week announced a 10 percent cut in the ARF to 100 percent of a car’s open market value or OMV. This will apply to cars bought using Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) secured from next month onwards. Road tax will also be cut by 15 percent for all cars.

The ARF is an upfront tax which has been progressively lowered over the last few years, in line with the government’s plan to shift the cost of owning a car from buying to using it.

A car’s OMV is essentially its cost plus insurance and freight, and it’s what the dealer pays to have the car imported into Singapore.

ARF was last cut in March 2004, from 130 to 110 percent of OMV. But will the latest adjustment definitely lead to lower car prices?

Let’s crunch some numbers. A Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 automatic has an OMV of around $12,000, which means its base selling price will fall by $1,200 next month.

That’s not a small amount, but a rise in the COE premium (likely, because buyers will flock to showrooms hoping to gain from the ARF cut) could more than wipe out the potential savings.

There’s also the often-overlooked factor of residual values. Less ARF paid upfront translates to a car that fetches less money when it’s scrapped or sold.

This is because the owner of a car that’s being deregistered before its 10th birthday is entitled to a partial rebate of the ARF, called the preferential additional registration fee or PARF.

The PARF ranges from 50 to 75 percent of the ARF paid, depending on when exactly the car is deregistered. Assuming the Lancer is scrapped when it turns 10, the PARF rebate under the new scheme is $6,000, down from $6,600.

So before any COE fluctuations are taken into account, the savings over the entire ownership period is actually just $600.

Similarly, the buyer of a BMW M3 (OMV $102,000) stands to save $10,200 upfront, but taking into account the lower PARF amount the net savings over the car’s lifespan is just $5,100.

Commenting on the tax adjustments, Automobile Association of Singapore president Bernard Tay said the reduction in road tax and ARF does not come as a surprise.

“In fact, the reductions fall short of market expectations,” he said. “Nevertheless, they will help to offset part of the costs that motorists will have to bear with the significant increase in the ERP charges.”