A case study from Turkey: Turkish auto-gas market towards sustainability

Turkish auto-gas market grew uncontrollably trough its initial years, leading to auto-gas product, retrofit cars, auto-gas filing stations and conversion shops in compliance with standards. Moreover, standards were not even adequate for a healthy market. Auto-gas accidents occurred due to mis-applications. Consequently, real benefits of auto-gas could not come into the picture, and general public as well as auto-gas customers came to perceive auto-gas as an inferior, unsafe and low-performance fuel. Today's market is really different than the markets in its initial years and it has covered a long way towards sustainability. To exemplify, the standards and inspections are well established and more strict than before. The image of auto-gas has improved considerably and now customers know that auto-gas is not only economic but also environment-friendly safe and good performance. The critical factor, bringing the market into sustainability and healthiness, are the developments in 4 crucial areas, namely, the government, LPG distribution companies, OEMs and auto-gas conversion firms and lastly, customers. Another important key success factor is cooperation between these 4 forces. The presentation will mainly focus on developments in these areas. (author)