Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed a long-expected expansion of its Ingenium powertrain range into petrol units.
Developed in the UK and built like the already available diesel units at the new JLR engine manufacturing plant near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, the petrol engines promise more efficiency, with greater fuel economy for fewer CO2 emissions.
JLR dubs the new units “the most advanced engines the company has ever produced,” adding that they will deliver up to 25 per cent more power than the engines they replace for fuel consumption savings of up to 15 per cent.
The four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine is already in production on a new line at the Wolverhampton plant. It is understood it will be offered in 200, 250 and 300hp versions, the first becoming available in 2017.
New technologies contributing to the efficiency of the new engines include an electrohydraulic valvetrain, integrated exhaust manifold and a twin scroll turbocharger with ceramic ball bearing technology.
Due to their common architecture they will enable a range of derivatives to be developed, as suitable for Jaguar sports cars as they will be for Land Rover SUVs.
JLR has also announced a £30 million research project, part funded by the UK Government, into more advanced transmissions.
Dubbed Transcend, the project aims to develop a compact eight-speed transmission that will weigh around 20kg less than existing units and deliver a 20-wide ratio spread, more than double those of conventional eight-speed auto gearboxes.
According to JLR group engineering director Nick Rogers, Transcend will offer a wide range of benefits. “It will make manoeuvring and off-road use easier than ever before for drivers whilst also improving on-road vehicle dynamics and CO2 emissions,” he says.
“Environmental innovation is at the heart of our strategy to dramatically reduce emissions up to 2020 and beyond – with the Ingenium family of powertrains and advanced research projects such as Transcend, future Jaguar Land Rover vehicles will emit significantly less CO₂,” Rogers adds, stating that by 2020, new technologies will help JLR reduce CO₂ emissions by a further 25 per cent.
Transcend could revolutionise the eight-speed auto transmission.
Keyword: Eco petrol engines to boost Jaguar Land Rover