KARACHI, March 16: Rising petrol prices has increased the demand of CNG cars by 30-40 per cent in the last one year, and assemblers have geared up their efforts to meet the mounting rush of orders for CNG fitted vehicles. An estimated 12,000-14,000 vehicles fitted with CNG kit are being added on the roads of Pakistan every month these days as compared to 8,000 units a year back. Despite slight increase in CNG prices, the petrol still costs 50-60 per cent more than the gas.

“The share of CNG vehicle sales now ranges between 60 and 70 per cent in the total sales of vehicles as compared to 40 and 50 per cent a year back,” General Manager Marketing, Pak Suzuki Motor Company, Ashfaq Hussain told Dawn on Wednesday.

The demand of CNG vehicles is progressively increasing, and the company is under pressure due to rising booking of CNG-fitted vehicles, he said. Rising petrol prices in the last one and a half years can be one of the main reasons for a demand spurt of gas vehicles. “I think that a CNG-fitted vehicle still costs 60 per cent less than the car running petrol,” he said.

When the petrol was Rs30-31 per litre, consumers were quite reluctant in shifting their vehicles to CNG but the actual boom in CNG conversion vehicles had arrived when petrol prices touched new peaks of Rs38 per litre. In case petrol becomes more costly in future, the sales of CNG-fitted vehicles will accelerate further, Ashfaq said.

Pak Suzuki offers CNG fitted vehicles in all its models. The company sold a total of 42,400 units in July-February 2004-2005 as against 35,600 units in the same period of 2003-2004, up by 19 per cent. The company sold 18,800 units of Mehran 800cc model, showing a nine per cent growth as compared to 17,200 units. Alto 1000cc sales rose by 71 per cent from 4,200 units to 7,200 units in eight months of fiscal year 2004-2005.

On January 1, 2004, petrol was available at Rs33.78, while diesel and kerosene were selling at Rs22.78 and Rs22.38 per litre. In effect, the price of petrol has risen by 11.75 in the last 15 months. In the same period, diesel has become costlier by Rs6.28 per litre.

Petrol prices are feared to go up further in coming fortnights in case international crude oil prices continue to show rising trends. Time is not far when consumers will be paying Rs50 a litre for petrol. “I have been receiving 50 per cent booking for CNG fitted Hyundai Santro currently as compared to 20 per cent out of total sales of car,” Director Marketing, Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML), Farooq Mustafa told Dawn on Wednesday.

“If petrol continues to become dearer, sale of CNG car is expected to hover between 70-80 per cent in coming months as compared to current 50 per cent,” he said.

He said that awareness of using CNG can be one of the main reasons in flourishing demand of gas vehicles in the country besides increase in petrol prices. A total of 3,900 units of Santro were sold during July-February 2004-2005 as compared to 3,800 units in the same period of 2003-2004. Total sales of Santro in 2003-2004 stood at 6,922 units.

President CNG Station Owners Association of Pakistan, Malik Khuda Bux said that currently a total of 600,000 cars, fitted with CNG, are running on the roads of Pakistan as against 450,000 vehicles a year back.

The demand of CNG is increasing which is evident from the rising number of gas vehicles ranging between 12,000 and 14,000 units as compared to 8,000 a year back, he said.

Currently, there are 648 gas pumps in operation all over the country, which was 450 a year back and 400 some two years back. Some 59 applications are under process for setting up new gas stations, while the government has also issued licences for 300 new stations.

Local automobile sector was one of the top most growing sectors in the country during the current year. It has a weight of 3.96 per cent in large scale manufacturing (LSM) and hence helps overall GDP growth. Indus Motors offers CNG fitted vehicles in only Daihatsu Cuore models, while Honda Atlas does not offer CNG fitted cars in its two models – City and Civic. Price conscious people, who own Toyota Corolla and Honda cars, are gradually shifting their vehicles to cheaper fuel.