Volvo to launch three-cylinder in 2017

 Volvo is set to launch a 1.5-litre three-cylinder gasoline engine in 2017 using components from its 2-litre four-cylinder unit.

GM tosses 2-litre diesel gauntlet at Jaguar

General Motors, under the umbrella of Opel and Vauxhall, has thrown down the gauntlet to Jaguar by unveiling a more powerful 2-litre diesel than Jaguar’s “clean sheet” Ingenium engine to be built in a new £500 million facility in the UK.

GM has well and truly spiked JaguarLandRover’s guns with a new 2-litre CDTi engine giving a power output of 170PS and and a torque of 400Nm.

Ricardo highlights next-generation diesels

In its latest quarterly magazine, RQ, Ricardo has picked up the news that both Volkswagen and Volvo have ‘new generation diesels’ in prospect.

The journal says that both firms are ‘set to raise the game in engine efficiency’ with the next generation diesels boasting significant increases in injection pressures and much closer control of the combustion process. This blog, autoindustrynewsletter, has already highlighted these developments

Ricardo noted that VW will introduce high-performance diesels with 3,000bar common rail systems and specific power outputs of 100kW (134bhp) per litre, promising a 15 per cent improvement in efficiency by 2020. This compares with around 2,000bar today.