GM To Announce New Turbo Engine; New 1.4L Coming Next Year For Small Cars

[Perian]

Link: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...801280366/1190

Rick Kranz - Automotive News - January 28, 2008 - 12:01 am ET

DETROIT — Never mind fuel cells, plug-ins or diesels. To achieve quick improvements in fuel economy, General Motors is adopting an off-the-shelf technology: small engines with turbochargers.

Next year GM will introduce a turbocharged 1.4-liter gasoline engine for small U.S. cars. The Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Astra are candidates for the engine, which is available without a turbocharger in the European Opel Astra.

GM engineering chief Jim Queen confirmed the company's plans to use the powertrain and said it could be used in mid-sized vehicles, too.

"You're going to see turbocharged four-cylinders in vehicles that no one could have ever imagined that they would be in," he said.

Queen did not indicate where the engines would be made or predict their fuel economy. The 2008 Cobalt with its 2.2-liter engine gets 33 mpg highway and 24 city.

Automakers find turbochargers a cost-effective way to improve fuel economy. This month Ford Motor Co. announced its EcoBoost system, a turbocharged gasoline engine with direct injection.

The 1.4-liter turbocharged engine is small by U.S. standards.

Turbochargers could cost GM $200 to $450 per vehicle depending on the system's sophistication, said Jim Hall, director of industry analysis at 2953 Analytics in suburban Detroit.

Full article at link.

[Perian]

A last - The Cobalt will have the MPG ratings to compete in the real world.

How about a Malibu with this engine and a low ratio five speed manual transmission doing 30MPG with little or no effort from the driver?

Good move GM.

[FierySolstice]

The question is now, can GM design and execute small cars to compete with the other major contenders? ie. GTI, Jetta, Mazda3, Lancer Let's hope so since the Cobalt is long in the tooth, the G5 is a joke, the Vibe is a Toyota and thus boring, and the Astra needs some horsepower.

[lam]

Originally Posted by Perian

A last - The Cobalt will have the MPG ratings to compete in the real world.

How about a Malibu with this engine and a low ratio five speed manual transmission doing 30MPG with little or no effort from the driver?

Good move GM.

This engine will not go into the current Cobalt.

[poncho1982]

Great, I can hear everybody now....

"Sure it gets great gas mileage, but theres not enough horsepower, GM should/can do better"

Nobody is ever satisfied.

[espo19047]

Originally Posted by FierySolstice

The question is now, can GM design and execute small cars to compete with the other major contenders? ie. GTI, Jetta, Mazda3, Lancer Let's hope so since the Cobalt is long in the tooth, the G5 is a joke, the Vibe is a Toyota and thus boring, and the Astra needs some horsepower.

Isn't the Cobalt already outselling some of these major contenders?

[MelvinJ]

Hopefully there's an automated manual transmission to go with the new engine to really help boost performance and fuel economy. An engine that only works well with a manual transmission doesn't have much of a future in the U.S.

[AndrewGS]

That could be fun yet economical in an Aveo with a sport suspension.

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted by lam

This engine will not go into the current Cobalt.

Why not? When is the next Cobalt coming out?

Even if the Cobalt isn't tops in its class it would sell much better if it got fuel economy that was more in line with the Corolla. This engine would make the Cobalt much more appealing to me if it offered a noticable improvement in mileage.

[b4z]

GM is going to have to give that 1.4L Turbo a lot of torque because the normally aspirated 1.4L is about as doggy as they come. The '06 Astra 5 speed we drove in England had a 0-60 time of around 13 seconds, 104 hp and a big hole when you hit 2nd gear.
+ the engine would get buzzy at high rpms, which was pretty much all the time. We averaged in the 28-30mpg range.
Passing on the M1 required a downshift into 4th.

[killerrd2]

I see this as yet another answer that's been before everyone's eyes and needed to be acted upon yesterday!
I know GM and all the rest will argue that they waited until the magic $3 a gallon gas price became the norm before they acted.
I say, the first few manufacturers to get these to market will reap the rewards (profits $$$)!! GO GM!!!

[lam]

Originally Posted by WishIhadatruck

Why not? When is the next Cobalt coming out?

Next Summer,the new Global Cobalt comes out,which will have this engine.

[NoNameDenton]

Long as they give it more then the 90 hp I have heard qouted for this engine I say ful steam ahead GM, your on the right track, builing more small cars and such that people want, also, bring over those small displacment diesels from Europe, many of them get 60+ mpg and are cleaner burning then their gas counterparts

[chevydlrmn]

well the 2.0 DI Turbo is 230hp w/ an auto, a 1.4 Turbo should be around 150hp, maybe more.

[Buick61]

I'm all for change. I'm surprised The General is being so pro-active.