丰田加快改进发动机燃油效率

    以普锐斯（Prius）品牌为代表，丰田汽车公司（Toyota）通过普及油电混合动力发动机技术在全球汽车行业中抢得先机。现在，普锐斯和混合动力车型已经在产品线中占得一席之地，丰田决定接下来要在传统汽油发动机技术领域赶超对手。

    日产（Nissan）、马自达（Mazda）等汽车制造商在燃料效率评级方面极具竞争力，其车型使用了较小较轻的发动机，因而得到消费者和政府部门的高度评价。据汽车行业媒体报道，丰田将利用两款全新发动机迅速缩小自己跟竞争对手的差距，该公司将在接下来一年把这些发动机装备到旗下14款不同车型上。第一款车型已经在日本面世，这款名为Passo的掀背式轿车，其发动机拥有1.0升排量，燃料效率据信可以比原来提高30%。

    一年多以来，丰田一直在宣扬一个名为“丰田新全球架构”（Toyota New Global Architecture，简称TNGA）的项目，其中包含了一系列汽车技术（包括发动机）创新。作为这个项目的第一步，丰田将推出一款1.3升的四缸发动机和一款1.0升的三缸发动机，它们将采用一些先进技术来提高燃油效率，其中包括一种名为“阿特金森燃烧循环”（Atkinson burning cycle）的技术。在过去，这项技术仅被应用于丰田的油电混合动力发动机中。

    丰田正在跟上其他汽车制造商的步伐。本田（Honda）推出了名为“地球之梦”（Earth Dreams）的高效节能系列发动机，马自达则推出了“创驰蓝天”（Skyactiv）系列发动机。【日产凭借聆风（Leaf）汽车成为电池动力汽车领域的领导者。】所有这些汽车制造商都在利用燃油喷射、涡轮增压等技术来提高燃料效率——有时甚至会以牺牲功率或扭矩为代价——从而符合美国和其他国家在碳排放方面日益严格的规章条例。

    丰田负责发动机和传动系统开发的高级经理佐贺光荣（Koei Saga）在公司全球总部接受《汽车新闻》（Automotive News）采访时表示：“我们希望在接下来将要开发的所有发动机上实现第一流的燃油经济性和成本效益。”

    佐贺光荣用日语“髪挿”（即中文的“发簪”，一种装饰性发饰）一词来形容各种“扩展”技术，例如在不消耗更多燃料的情况下，通过发动机废气再循环产生更多动力。

    “我们有各式各样的髪挿，”佐贺告诉《汽车新闻》。

    由于重新设计发动机并且整合技术需要大量资金（丰田并未说明具体数额），丰田必须在其他地方想办法省出这笔钱。已有诸多报道表明，丰田将会通过开发更多可在不同发动机间通用的部件来完成这项壮举。

    公司发言人安德鲁•库切表示，随着汽油发动机得到改进，油电混合动力发动机也会随之得到提升。他说：“我们的工程师都很兴奋，并迫不及待想让每一项创新技术尽快投入使用。”

    TNGA项目还包括重新设计的悬架以及其他提升操控和驾驶体验的系统，而充分体现该项目成果的车型在近两三年还不会登陆美国市场，这段时间里丰田预计将推出最新一代凯美瑞（Camry）。

    与此同时，我们预计将会看到丰田推出一系列具有较高燃油效率的发动机产品，以及在其他重新设计的部件上实现增量改进。这家日本汽车制造商并不打算轻易将自己的“全球第一”称号拱手让人，在德国大众汽车公司（Volkswagen AG）这样的竞争对手向前迈进时，丰田似乎并不甘于坐困愁城。（财富中文网）

    Toyota stole a march on the global automotive industry by popularizing gas-electric hybrid engines, using its Prius brand to highlight the technology. But now that the Prius and hybrids are permanent fixtures in the automotive lineup, Toyota has decided it has some catching-up to do in the category of conventional gasoline engines

    Automakers like Nissan and Mazda are highly competitive in fuel efficiency ratings, using smaller, lighter powerplants to score high with consumers and governments. According to reports in the trade press, Toyota will narrow the gap shortly with two new engines that will be available in 14 variations around the world through next year. The first example has appeared in Japan, a hatchback known as Passo, powered by a 1.0-liter engine. Fuel efficiency in this model supposedly has been improved by 30 percent.

    For more than a year, the automaker has been touting a program it calls Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), that includes a number of automotive innovations, including engines. First off will be a 1.3-liter four-cylinder and a 1.0-liter three-cylinder that employ several advanced processes that improve fuel efficiency, including one known as an Atkinson burning cycle. Engines using the Atkinson technology previously had been used only in Toyota’s gas-electric hybrids.

    Toyota is following in other carmaker’s footsteps. Honda has introduced a line of high-efficiency engines it calls Earth Dreams, while the Mazda’s is called Skyactiv. (Nissan, with its Leaf, has made itself into a leader in battery-powered cars.) All are using technologies such as fuel injection and turbo charging to improve efficiency – sometimes at the expense of power or torque – and thus comply with increasingly stringent rules in the U.S. and abroad governing carbon emissions.

    “We would like to achieve No. 1 performance in fuel economy and cost for all the engines that we will be developing,” said Koei Saga, senior managing director in charge of engine and transmission development, in an interview with the Automotive News at Toyota’s global headquarters.

    Saga referred to the Japanese word kanzashi, a kind of ornamental hairpin to describe “add-on” technologies, such as recirculating exhaust from the engine to generate more power without burning more fuel.

    “We have a wide variety of kanzashi,” Saga told Automotive News.

    Since redesigning engines and incorporating technology require substantial capital – Toyota hasn’t clarified how much – the cost must be recouped by saving elsewhere. Published reports suggest that Toyota will accomplish this feat by creating more common parts among engines.

    As the gasoline engines improve, so will the gas-electric hybrids that use them in tandem, said Andrew Coetzee, a Toyota spokesman. “Our engineers are excited,” he said, “and very eager to put every innovation on the road as fast as possible.”

    Full expression of TNGA, including redesigned suspensions and other systems that improve handling and drivability, may not be apparent in the U.S. for another two to three years, when Toyota is expected to introduce its newest generation Camry.

    Meantime, expect to see a spate of engines featuring higher fuel efficiency from Toyota, along with incremental improvements in other redesigned parts. The No. 1 automaker from Japan doesn’t intend to give up its title easily, and doesn’t seem content to sit in idle while competitors like Volkswagen AG races ahead.