General Motors’ UK subsidiary Vauxhall claims that sales of liquid petroleum gas (LPG)-powered ‘Dualfuel’ cars and vans have risen 60% so far this year.

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The company said the increase was in response to environmental concerns, rising fuel costs and wider product choices, and has been boosted by the London congestion charge, introduced in mid-February, from which all alternative fuel-powered vehicles receive a 100% discount.


First quarter Vauxhall LPG vehicle sales at 1,053 – around 90% to fleets – compared with 2,400 for the whole of 2002.


The top seller was the Astra Dualfuel, with Vectra, Zafira and, surprisingly, Astra Coupe models also showing healthy rises. The best selling dual-powered van was the Portugese-built Corsa-based Combo.


Vauxhall claims that a growing number of fleets throughout the UK are switching to LPG operation, but especially those with vehicles that operate within the inner London charging zone.

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Typical is Croydon, Surrey-based engineering and maintenance business, Staveley Industries, which has taken delivery of its first batch of seven Combo 1.6i Dualfuel models, with a further 16 on order. It expects to save “a substantial five figure sum” a year in congestion charges, before the additional fuel cost benefits are taken into account.


Vauxhall says a 25-strong fleet of vehicles travelling about 25,000 miles a year and using LPG for 90% of the time would save an operator more than £30,000 over three years.


In addition, the UK company car driver’s tax is reduced since benefit-in-kind (BIK) is calculated on the lower CO2 emission levels of LPG.


The UK now also assesses the annual so-called ‘vehicle excise tax’ paid for petrol and diesel-powered vehicles according to their CO2 output.