General Motors’ newly developed small-capacity engines, dubbed Ecotec have been revealed. The company recently unveiled a three pot, 1.0 litre unit at the 2014 Opel Adam, which is one of the engines from the new generation engine family. The Ecotec engines are developed in 5 R&D centres located in various parts of the world and going forward will be produced in five countries includingHungary, Mexico, South Korea and the United States. The new range of engines from GM will come fitted with three and four cylinders with a capacity ranging between 1.0 and 1.5 litres. Eleven new engines will be developed which will belt out varied power and torque outputs of 75 Bhp to 165 Bhp and 95 Nm to 250 Nm respectively. Out of the 11 new engines, few will be fitted with turbochargers which will support hybrid and alternative fuels.
The American car maker claims these engines to be more frugal and genteel as compared to the previous generation of engines powering its present clan of cars. By 2017, Ecotec engines will be made available in 27 models across 64 countries. GM also eyes producing a whopping 2.5 million units of Ecotec engines by 2017.
2015 Chevrolet Cruze made specifically for the Chinese auto market is likely to get two of the engines from the newly developed engine line-up. A 1.4 litre turbocharged engine generating 148 Bhp along with 235 Nm and a 1.5 litre unit engendering 113 Bhp along with 108 Nm could be seen in the 2015 Chevrolet Cruze.
Auto companies have been developing new age engines equipped with advanced technologies in order to offer enhanced performance. The emission norms are getting stiffer with time and revised efficiency guidelines are also due to be announced. To combat the mounting pressure of delivering higher efficiency and at the same time abiding to the stiffer emission norms auto makers are developing efficacious engines to suffice growing demand. Ford too developed highly acclaimed EcoBoost engine which is offered in its compact SUV EcoSport. Volkswagen has also developed a new range of engines, named EA211.
