The Gazprom Gas Engine Fuel company and Moskvich have agreed to produce cars with installed gas equipment. As part of the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, the Moskvich 6 liftback made its debut on methane, and later the Moskvich 3 crossover may also be “gasified.” It is not yet known when the bi-fuel Moskvich vehicles will go on sale.
All that is known about the dual-fuel Moskvich 6 is that the engine power is 104 horsepower, while in the regular gasoline version the one and a half liter turbo engine develops 136 horsepower. The liftback is equipped with gas-cylinder equipment provided by the Gazprom structure and runs on methane – due to this, the range is greater and refueling is cheaper. The company does not specify how much more economical this version is than the usual one.
Gazprom Gas Engine Fuel reports that, together with Moskvich, it will develop “mechanisms for launching joint marketing programs and identifying regions for priority launch of the project.” “Currently, the Moskvich plant produces two models of cars with an internal combustion engine, the Moskvich 3 crossover and the Moskvich 6 liftback, which, as part of a future project, can be equipped with gas equipment,” Gazprom said in a statement.
At the forum held in St. Petersburg, another Russian-assembled car with Gazprom’s gas equipment was presented – the Chinese BAIC U5 Plus sedan. In its trunk there are two methane cylinders with a capacity of 39 liters each: such a car has a power reserve of one and a half times more, and refueling costs 2.5 times less. Avtotor has already assembled a batch of 20 bi-fuel BAIC U5 Plus.
New Russians: premieres of our automobile industry
