Daewoo develops CNG engine for Cielo

Daewoo Motors India will bring to the market a Cielo car powered by compressed natural gas. The company will roll out in January 2000 a Cielo model with a factory-fitted CNG engine. The model will be on display at the Auto Expo beginning in New Delhi on 11 January, and it will be available in the market in about a month after that.

The company will offer the CNG option only for its Cielo model. Its small car Matiz or the mid-size luxury Nexia models will not come with CNG engines. Nor will it have a CNG car for export. This may be making a virtue of necessity since Cielo sales have recently been very poor.

The CNG models are exclusive for India, according to the company, and there is no proposal to make such models in any other Daewoo plant across the world. The parent Daewoo Motor Company of Korea makes engines powered by LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas.

The company says it has incorporated an advanced computer chip in the CNG-powered engine. This, along with the multi-point fuel injection system, enhances the vehicle’s overall performance.

Daewoo officials say that the CNG model’s road trials have shown that it can bring down fuel expenses by 30 per cent compared to a petrol model. It will also give better mileage, at 22.8 km per litre, compared to 12.5 km per litre of petrol. In other words, the cost per kilometre will work out to 49 paise in the case of CNG-powered engines against Rs 1.92 per km in the case of petrol engines.

Daewoo officials point out that the emissions from the CNG-run car are very low, even lower than the levels prescribed under Euro II norms.