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At a media event with peers Subaru and Mazda Motor, the world's
biggest automaker by volume displayed in-development 1.5 liter
and 2.0 liter engines with significantly reduced volume and
height versus current engines.
"With these engines, each of the three companies will aim to
optimize integration with motors, batteries, and other electric
drive units," they said in a joint statement. Toyota owns about
a fifth of Subaru and roughly 5% of Mazda.
The three said their efforts will help decarbonize internal
combustion engines by making them compatible with alternative
fuel sources such as e-fuels and biofuels. They also hope more
compact engines will revamp vehicle design by allowing for lower
hoods.
Toyota was widely considered an EV laggard but a slowdown in EV
growth has seen it benefit from an uptake of petrol-electric
hybrids. Refreshing its traditional engine technology against
that backdrop mirrors a similar move at Mercedes-Benz , while
BYD is set to unveil new hybrid technology with lower fuel
consumption later on Tuesday.
The Japanese automaker said its new 1.5 litre engine will
achieve volume and weight reduction of 10% of versus its
existing 1.5 litre engines, which it uses in cars such as its
Yaris compact.
The new 2.0-litre turbo engine will have similar gains versus
existing 2.4 litre turbo engines used in bigger models such as
three-row seating sport utility vehicles.
Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima declined to say when
Toyota will launch models equipped with the engines.
Automakers face tougher emissions standards in markets such the
European Union where policymakers are working toward emissions
rules known as "Euro 7" for cars and vans from 2030, before
banning sales of new CO2-emitting cars from 2035.
While electric vehicles have become more prominent in recent
years, Toyota has been following a "multi-pathway" approach to
carbon neutrality with vehicles offering a range of powertrains.
It sold about 2.4 million vehicles in January-March of which
nearly two-fifths were petrol-electric hybrids. Plug-in hybrid,
fuel-cell and all-battery electric vehicles together accounted
for just 2.9%.
Chairman Akio Toyoda in January said EVs would reach a global
auto market share of 30% at most, with hybrids, hydrogen
fuel-cell and fuel-burning vehicles making up the rest.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Jamie Freed and
Christopher Cushing)
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