Pending carbon dioxide emissions regulations in Europe mean that Mercedes Benz will make a major push toward down-sizing engines in the next three years. Thomas Weber, Daimler board member responsible for research and development has announced that every model in the Mercedes lineup will offer a turbocharged engine the end of 2010. All of the turbocharged engines will feature smaller displacements for reduced fuel consumption, with the turbos providing increased power on-demand.

The down-sized and boosted engines are only one aspect of the drive to get fleet average CO2 emissions down to 138 g/km by 2012. In 2009 Mercedes Benz will also launch a version of the luxury S-Class sedan with a mild hybrid system and an M-Class SUV with the Two-Mode hybrid system. In 2010, an electrically driven Smart ForTwo with a lithium ion battery will also go into limited production. By mid-decade, the automakers wants all of its vehicles to be capable of operating on either biofuels, hydrogen or electricity.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

Until now, if you wanted to drive a large natural gas-powered vehicle, one option was the Opel Zafira which could haul you and your beloved ones around, albeit with only 96 HP from the 1.6-liter engine. Well, since there seems to always be a market for more power, Opel has adapted this engine to a turbo version, something that boosts power to 150 HP, (more here). This puts the Zafira in the same leage as the VW Passat Variant TSI EcoFuel. The Zafira Turbo CNG could be on sale in 2009. Opel is currently selling two CNG cars in Germany, the Meriva and the Opel Combi, at €23,640 and €17,737, respectively.

[Source: AutoNews]

Click on the image for high-res shots of this diesel 1967 Mercury Cougar

Much of the vegetable oil and biodiesel movement centers around the classic Mercedes-Benz inline six cylinder engine, but fine examples of the genre are getting tougher to find. As is always the case with older machines, time and driving in general take their toll on the bodies and chassis of our favorite classics. But, these old Mercedes lumps can be rebuilt to fine running order. Wondering what to do with that good-running or rebuilt turbodiesel engine? How about dropping it into the engine bay of some classic Detroit iron? Many of these older American vehicles were built with engine-bays capable of accepting everything from a straight-six to a huge big block V8 engine. If that sounds like too much trouble, perhaps you should take a look at an example that's already been converted. Right now on Craigslist in L.A. is a cherry 1967 Mercury Cougar with a Mercedes OM617 cast iron turbodiesel engine from a Mercedes-Benz 300SD. Mated to a four-speed manual tranny, we'd imagine that many trouble-free miles of burbling diesel goodness are in store for this particular gem. Thanks for the tip, Geeky1!


[Source: Craigslist]

At a Powertrain technology event in Europe, General Motors has announced a pair of new small displacement turbocharged engines. The 1.4L turbo is gasoline fueled and will be used globally in cars like the Opel/Saturn Astra starting in 2010. Depending on the application, the engines will generate 120-140hp and use eight percent less fuel than a comparable output 1.8L normally aspirated engine. The turbocharger is integrated into the exhaust manifold and both the intake and exhaust valve timing can be fully varied. We drove an Astra with a prototype of this engine last summer and it felt stronger than the production 1.8L model thanks to better low end torque.

The other new engine is a 1.6L unit that will only be offered in Europe. A 1.6L turbo engine fueled with compressed natural gas will be added to the Opel Zafira lineup. This engine gets a similar manifold integrated turbocharger to the 1.4L engine. The intake manifold has dual fuel rails for gasoline and CNG and has an output of 150hp with 25 percent lower CO₂ emissions than a comparable gas engine.

[Source: General Motors]

Car makers the world over are looking for the most cost effective ways to increase fuel economy as fuel prices continue to climb and CO₂ limits and fuel economy standards come into force. One approach that seems to be appealing to most is adding direct fuel injection and turbocharging to smaller displacement engines. Continental Automotive Systems sees the trend and is jumping on the bandwagon. Continental has announced their intention to build their first turbocharger plant for production begining in 2011. The initial production run will be for 2.0L four cylinder engines at the rate of 100,000 per year. No location has been announced for the plant, but somewhere in Eastern Europe seems probable. Volkswagen is also rumored to be the first customer for Conti's turbos.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

BRA GmbH, PGO Automobiles and gasmobil partnered to create PGO Cévennes Turbo-CNG roadster, a car they will introduce at the International Auto Salon in Geneva (March 6 to 16). They are taking pre-orders now and may take the car into production as a series depending on demand. Interested? The projected price for this car is €48,000 (US$70,000).

The roadster has a top speed of 210 kph (130 mph) and does 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.5 seconds. It has a 4-cylinder, 1.6-liter turbocharged engine, 6-speed manual transmission and a maximum output of 110 kW (150 hp) at 5,600 rpm, with maximum torque of 210 Nm (155 lb-ft) at 2,300 rpm. As for fuel economy, it gets 6.7 liters gasoline equivalent/100 km, or 35 miles per US gallon and has a range of 450 kilometers (280 miles).

But who cares about fuel economy with a beauty like that, huh? There is a video below about what looks to be the classic version of the PGO Cévennes. I can't tell: The entire thing is in French. Still worth a watch for any roadster fan.

[Source: Treehugger, Green Car Congress, YouTube]

If I said my car was turbocharged, with electronic fuel injection and it had a giant, cold air, intake scoop on the hood, you might not think it was green, but you should. Technologies like turbo mean greater power but they also mean better fuel economy and car makers are turning to them to make greener cars. The LA Times writes that automakers are turning to turbochargers as a way to increase fuel economy up to 30 percent. Americans are not exactly used to the idea that turbo = green, but that may change.

The Detroit News writes Ford is looking into turbo charging and direct fuel injection to improve the fuel economy of their cars. As described in the video above, turbo is sending the exhaust with a fan into the combustion chamber to reduce the amount of unburned fuel. Fuel injection hopes to reduce the amount of unburned fuel by improving the mix of air and fuel. For better intake of air (cold air is better because it's denser), air intake systems or large scoops on the hood are sometimes used. So don't be surprised if the most efficient car in a few years looks like something out of the 70's Max Mad movie.

[Source: LA Times, Detroit News, YouTube]

Recently, I wrote about a claim by Jeremy Clarkson that the Porsche 911 Turbo could actually clean the air. A comment to that article referenced a video by Saab about a system called Trionic that you could say cleans the air by "digesting" it. In The video demonstration above, the amount of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the exhaust of a Saab car with Trionic and an older, dirtier burning car are measured. A pipe is put over the exhaust of the older car that leads to the air intake of the Saab with Trionic. What happens?

The Trionic car's emissions increases at first but then the Trionic system detects the increase of CO and hydrocarbons, and the emissions goes down. So, yes, it's conceivable that Porsche has developed similar technology and while the promotional video is from 1992, Trionic seems to be available in Saab cars you can buy today. The car is really just burning fuel older cars did not burn so you probably get better mileage in polluted cities because you are getting free fuel from the air. ... That's a seriously disturbing thought.

[Source: Google Video via Phoenexius]

Potential benefits of biofuels seem obvious with a reduced carbon footprint being a key reason. But, as we've covered in the past, alcohol fuels such as ethanol can also increase the performance of an engine if the engine is optimized properly. Saab realizes this fact and is considering implementing the idea for future powertrains.

The use of turbocharging can help take advantage of an engine running on ethanol and Saab has a history of force-feeding mass quantities of air into their engines. This being the case, it's not hard to understand why they might be interested in lowering the emissions of their engines by combining E85 capability with turbocharging. In so doing, they can actually reduce the displacement of the engine while still making the desired amount of power. They believe that this may be a short-term way to meet new emissions requirements while still delivering the driving experience that their customers desire. Saab sees hybrids as a potential long-term solution, but they are not yet ready to get one into production.

One might question, though, is whether or not Saab's intended market is ready to concede that small-displacement four-cylinder engines can be just as worthy in a sporty entry-level luxury car, no matter how much power they might produce.

[Source: Channel 4]