With the exponential rise in fuel prices in the last decade, demand for CNG vehicles has picked up pace rapidly in the past few years, especially in the fleet segment and cab aggregator space. Maruti currently leads the CNG space by an overwhelming margin.
While Tata Motors started out a couple of years ago, Hyundai hasn’t been able to replicate that level of success due to lack of options. One major drawback about CNG vehicles is the lack of a significant boot space since the CNG tank is placed inside. Tata Motors found a nice way to address this issue by employing a twin-cylinder setup.
Hyundai twin-tank CNG trademarked
It seems now Hyundai is expected to follow the footsteps of Tata Motors and adopt a similar technology. The South Korean carmaker has filed two trademark applications— ‘Hy-CNG’ and ‘Hy-CNG Duo’ — the latter expected to get the twin-cylinder CNG setup. Currently Hyundai offers a factory fitted single-cylinder CNG kit in models like Grand i10 Nios, Aura and Exter.
Going forward, there are rumours of Hyundai expanding its CNG portfolio to models like i20, Venue or even Creta and Verna. Both trademarks were filed as recently as, on 31/05/2024 and the status reads ‘Formalities Chk Pass’. Not only will the twin-cylinder CNG setup liberate more boot space, it is also a more pleasant sight, especially for premium vehicles. As of now, we have no concrete details about the same.
Twin-cylinder CNG from other OEMs
Tata Motors was the first to implement this technology, in Altroz first and then later offered in Tiago, Tigor and Punch. In this setup, the company offers a factory-fitted CNG kit with two CNG tanks measuring 30-litre each which are tucked underneath the boot floor, thus liberating generous luggage space in the trunk. Tata Motors will expand its CNG lineup with Nexon and the upcoming Curvv.
A few days back, Maruti also teased an updated range of CNG vehicles which are speculated to benefit from the same twin-cylinder setup. The Indo-Japanese carmaker offers this feature in the Super Carry LCV featuring two CNG tanks with 35-litre each. We expect it to make its way first in the newly launched fourth-gen Swift.
