Toyota announced plans to launch 14 new gas engines in the coming two years that will improve fuel efficiency by 10 percent compared to current models.
Toyota, the world's largest automobile company, is transforming the current model of gas engines by tweaking a new technology fine-tuned in gas-electric hybrids to improve efficiency. The Japanese car maker has gained supremacy in the hybrid technology, with models like Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion already running successfully. According to the company's announcement Thursday, Toyota will launch 14 new gas engines in the coming two years that will boost fuel efficiency by 10 percent compared to the company's current engines.
The gas-electric hybrids might gain a bigger stronghold in the future, but at the moment the technology is not widely implemented. Other Japanese companies like Mazda and Honda have developed similar engines. The technology in the hybrids improves efficiency by switching back and forth between a gas engine and an electric motor. Toyota's new engines will also feature an old style engine type called the Atkinson cycle that will reduce heat through greater thermal efficiency, Detroit Free Press reports via Associated Press.
Toyota's manager of powertrain planning division said the new engines will arrive with small 1.0 liter and 1.3-liter in gasoline, diesel and turbo and hybrid variants, Wall Street Journal reports. The company has plans to expand the new variants to emerging markets in Asia, where the gas-electric hybrids have failed to gain sufficient traction due to expensive pricing. But by sharing parts among new and current engines, Toyota will reduce the costs of the upcoming engines. According to the car maker, the new engines will find a place in 30 percent of the vehicles sold globally in 2016.
The new technology promises a better future for the company with a boost in sales, but achieving the new goal will carry its own consequences. As reported by WSJ, using common parts in greater quantities to develop the new engines will pose a risk of larger recalls for the company.
Toyota issued a voluntary recall Wednesday for 6.4 million vehicles across the globe. The recall was to address five different technical faults found in 30 different Toyota models, including Corolla, Highlander, Tacoma and some others with model years before 2010. Last month, the car maker also paid whopping $1.2 billion to resolve a criminal probe into safety issues. The U.S. authorities are using it as an example to carry out similar investigations, resulting in an inquiry into GM's practices.
