Volkswagen has ruled out using two-cylinder engines in its Up city car, due next year.
The firm has been at the forefront of engine downsizing technology with its three-cylinder petrol and diesel motors. But R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg believes downsizing is now nearing its limits, despite the recent introduction of Fiat’s new two-cylinder TwinAir engine.
Red Autocae's first drive of the Fiat 500 TwinAir
“Improvements can now only be made in performance and economy, not in making the engines any smaller,” he said. Instead, the Up will make use of three-cylinder engines that “will really advance the technology and make strong use of it”, he said.
VW Jetta technical boss Michael Hinz admits that the firm has experimented with two-cylinder technology, but says it needs to improve its three-cylinder engines before developing smaller engines. “I’ve seen two-cylinder cars running,” he said, “but from a production point of view it’d be very hard.
“Even three-cylinder engines are very expensive as they’re not as smooth or refined as we’d like. But we’re not going to abandon them,” he added.
