Toyota is set to extensively overhaul its engine lineup as part of the brand’s “Toyota New Global Architecture” product development strategy.
The move, which underscores Toyota’s renewed focus on traditional gasoline engines after years of concentrating primarily on hybrids, will seek to increase fuel efficiency by 30 percent and trim costs on major components by 50 percent.
“We would like to achieve No. 1 performance in fuel economy and cost for all the engines that we will be developing,” Koei Saga, Toyota’s senior managing officer in charge of powertrain development, told Automotive News.
“We are spending more time concentrating on improving the basic performance of engines….that means we can maintain leadership in the market for a long time.”
One of the key elements of the motor makeover will be maximizing common parts like engine blocks and camshafts, as well as design elements like combustion cycle and valve timing, in order to spread costs across a large number of engines.
The ensuing cost savings will leave room in the budget for enhancements for specific vehicles that Toyota’s engineers refer to as kanzashi, the traditional ornamental hairpins worn by geisha.
Toyota’s kazanshi include technologies like turbochargers, direct injection, stop-start and exhaust gas recirculation systems.
“First, we have to improve the performance of the base engine itself, then on top of that we will be utilizing kanzashi as occasion demands,” Saga said. “Just like putting something beautiful on top of your hairdo, by using kanzashi through such things as turbocharging or downsizing, you can improve the performance of the engine.”
“Traditionally, when you add new kanzashi, that increases cost, and we struggled to absorb it and profit margin deteriorated. But by improving our design and bundling volume, in some cases we were are able to reduce costs by half.”
Aside from Kanzashi components, Toyota’s new engines will also feature Atkinson cycle combustion, expanded variable valve timing and higher compression ratios.
The new engine family debuted in April with the launch of the Japanese-market Toyota Passo’s 1.0-liter motor. In the near future, it is expected to spread to other models such as the redesigned Prius and next-generation Camry. A V6-replacing turbocharged and direct-injected four-cylinder is under consideration for the new Camry, although a final decision regarding the mill has not yet been made.
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