At least three automakers here in Brazil are betting on turbocharger technology for their new, one-litre, three-cylinder engines. None has yet confirmed officially it plans to produce them but several just-auto sources say they will.
The up-to-one litre (61cu in) displacement class in Brazil is granted a strong IPI excise tax concession (four to six percentage points depending on whether the engine is flexible-fuel or not) and currently accounts for 40% of total auto sales though that’s down from 70% 10 years ago. This is likely to rebound to 50%, however, thanks to the turbocharged engines.
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Volkswagen is leading the chase with its new EA 211 engine planned for mid-2015. Between 2000 and 2002, it offered a turbocharged four-cylinder, one-litre, 110-bhp motor based on the EA 111 engine. Now there is also a goal to improve fuel economy to benefit from additional incentives under the Inovar-Auto programme.
Because this is a more expensive engine, it go into the Gol, Voyage and Fox first, plus the upcoming Taigun (a crossover variant of the Up) if that is confirmed eventually.
Such an engine is the best fit for Ford’s locally produced EcoSport which led (first in Europe) with the EcoBoost I3 family. The Brazilian Fiesta could also benefit from the same, basic powertrain already in production in Camaçari, state of Bahia. A new Ka sport variant with an EcoBoost I3 turbo would not be a surprise.
PSA’s three-cylinder turbo [already used to good effect across the model range here in Europe – ed] will power the Brazilian Peugeot 2008 by Q2 2015 and is expected to go into the Peugeot C3 Picasso/Aircross and, so it seems, top C3 and Peugeot 208 versions will share it, too. The 308 is a likely recipient as well.
Fiat so far has no three-cylinder engine in its world product line yet just-auto has learned such an engine is under development here in Brazil – in both naturally aspirated and turbo versions as Fiat takes engine development in-house, as units developed in the mid-2000s through the now-defunct Fiat Powertrain joint venture with General Motors are phased out.
This, at the end of the day is nothing other than a strategic FCA corporate decision to lower its average fuel consumption to meet Inovar-Auto requirements since the current Fire family [the design dates back to the 1984 one-litre I4] have no room left to evolve beyond their current stage.
Among the so-called Brazilian ‘big four’, General Motors insists it will stick with I4s since the current engines can be tweaked further yet to further improve efficiency.
That might change, though, because Opel/Vauxhall is already using a new-generation I3 in Europe and the automaker has a new engine plant in Joinville, state of Santa Catarina, opened last year, in which to make variants for Brazil.
