Toyota Planning Turbocharging, Direct Injection Across Lineup
The recent switch to “down-sizing” technologies like turbocharging and direct-injection have allowed automakers like Chevy, Ford and Hyundai to leap past Toyota in the fuel economy race in recent years. During that time Toyota’s focus has been on hybridizing its lineup of vehicles, a move that does allow for more significant fuel economy gains, but which is expensive; a cost that is then passed on to the consumer. Toyota’s hybrid plans also tend to mean a less impressive performance numbers.
Steering the industry over the past decade, Toyota now appears to be succumbing to the pressure of its rivals and will begin to roll out extensive use of turbocharging and direct injection in its vehicles. While not a massive leap, it will allow for significant short term fuel economy gains, with these technologies proving just how much potential is left in the internal combustion engine.
In an interview with Automotive News Toyota’s R&D boss Takeshi Uchiyamada commented that we’ll see this engine technology in everything from the Corolla to Camry, while the company will improve its variable valve timing and begin using start/stop systems to further improve technology.
The move should also help Toyota save significantly on R&D costs. With the automaker already boasting excellent fuel economy numbers, just switching to direct-injection will put Toyota back on top in the fuel economy race, without the need to design and build an entirely new generation of engines.
Moving to turbochargers and direct-injection also holds promise for performance enthusiasts. And with Toyota’s long history of turbocharged performance, perhaps a new generation of sports cars like the FR-S/FT-86 could make use of turbo DI engines in order to achieve impressive fuel economy and fun.
[Source: Automotive News via Motor Trend]
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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Late? Lol. Toyota has had direct injection engines since 1998. Go look it up and learn something. Toyota was one of the FIRST automakers in the world to have direct injection engines. Even without direct injection and turbos, Toyota vehicles are still tops or near-tops in fuel economy in nearly every segment. If you want to talk about real media BS, then that would be Honda. Honda products are actually NOT near-top or top in every segment in terms of fuel economy. A number of Honda products actually have quite mediocre fuel economy for their segments.
Oh I forgot to mention, the reason Toyota has not rushed back into turbocharging is simple; reliability and maintenance costs. All these automakers coming out with turbo engines, I guarantee you they will see increased maintenance costs and reduced reliability compared to naturally aspirated engines. If Toyota will be using turbos in future products, than can only mean they've found a way to maintain reliability and low maintenance compared to naturally aspirated engines.