Hyundai may be the slowstarter in making hybrid cars behind Toyota and Honda but the company is planning to go full steam on developing its own hybrid technology. We recently reported you that Hyundai may soon give an go ahead singal to its Indian subisidiary Hyundai Motor India to develop similar technologies for smaller cars.
Hyundai plans to roll out a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the its sedans in 2010 and Hyundai will launch larger hybrid vehicles soon after that. But before the big launches, Hyundai plans to launch the world’s first hybrid vehicle (Avante) to be powered by liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and the first to adopt advanced lithium polymer batteries.
The Avante LPG Hybrid will be powered by a hybrid system that combines a combustion engine fueled by LPG and an electric motor powered by lithium ion batteries.According to Hyundai, Acaante hybrid will be powered by a LPI Gamma engine displacing 1.6 liters, a 15kW electric motor and a continuously variable transmission. The Elantra or Avante LPI hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) is a mildtype hybrid capable of delivering a competitive fuel economy rating. The Elantra / Avante LPI HEV is expected to be as much as 40% cheaper to operate than other competitor models in the marketplace and 50% less than a conventional Elantra model powered by a gasoline-only engine. Hyundai will launch the Avante LPG Hybrid or Elantra LPG Hybrid in the Korean market in 2009. Hyundai hopes to sell at least 50,000 units of avante LPG hybrid annually in Korea.
The good news is Hyundai says that it is open to consider export of this avante LPG hybrid to other countries where LPG filling stations is widely available. India is one of the important market for Hyundai and as LPG powered cars is setting the sales chart of every manufacturers soar, Hyundai may bring Avante LPG hybrid to India too. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and wait for the launch.