Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have agreed on a joint development project for a new generation diesel engine to be used in cars exported to Europe.
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After the agreement is finalised, development will begin in earnest with a target of beginning mass production in 2010. Demand for diesel engines has been growing as the European market calls for lowering CO2 emissions.
The engine will be a two-litre class unit aimed for use in small to mid-sized cars. In addition to meeting Europe’s strict new emissions standards (Euro 5), and aim is to achieve best-in-class levels of output and emissions performance.
Development will be completed in mid-2009, and the engine will be introduced to Mitsubishi Motors’ key European market models.
Mitsubishi Motors currently uses proprietary diesel engines in its European market Pajero SUV model as well as in the Triton pickup (L200) manufactured in Thailand.
In small and mid-sized cars however diesel engines are supplied by Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG.
In addition to possibly providing engineering expertise gained through experience in industrial and marine diesel engines, as well as in gas turbine technologies, Mitsubishi Heavy is studying the provision of equipment and systems for development and testing. Also, expert engineers may be dispatched from Mitsubishi Heavy to Mitsubishi Motors to aid in the project.
