The hottest - Ricardo

Japan’s
giants outline
their plans
In an unprecedented show of
technical openness, both Toyota and
Honda have outlined key elements of
their engineering strategies to 2010
and beyond.
Both technological powerhouses are
targeting significant reductions in CO2
emissions and other environmental
impacts, and both are pursuing fuel
cell vehicle development, with Honda
promising to commercialise a model
within three years. The design will be
previewed this autumn.
Honda plans a 10 per cent reduction
in its cars’ fuel consumption between
2000 and 2010, as well as a similar cut
in CO2 emitted per vehicle
manufactured. Motorcycle and power
product fuel consumption is targeted
to fall twice as much.
A next-generation clean diesel will
appear within three years, able to
conform to the EPA’s strict Tier 2, Bin 5
emissions levels, and a clean V6 diesel
will also be introduced. Honda will
migrate hybrids into smaller cars and
diesels into larger models.
A new dedicated hybrid will launch
in 2009 at a price lower than that of the
Civic Hybrid, currently north America’s
cheapest. It will be built at a rate of
200,000 a year, promising strong
competition for Toyota, which will
double its numbers of hybrids by 2010
and introduce plug-in models for even
lower CO2 emissions.
Also by 2010, Toyota promises
emissions 75 per cent below Japan’s
2005 standards and 10 per cent better
than that country’s 2010 fuel efficiency
stipulations.
Many of these gains will be achieved
through an overhaul of the complete
Toyota gasoline, diesel and
transmission line-up, again by 2010, an
example being this year’s new 1.8 litre
gasoline engine which gains 5 per cent
in economy through ultra-light pistons
and roller-rocker valvegear.
Next year, Toyota will introduce flexfuel
vehicles to Brazil, able to run on
up to 100 per cent ethanol, with
bioethanol models for other markets.
RICARDO
QUARTERLY
REVIEW
The task of RQ is to highlight the latest
thinking in automotive engineering and
technology worldwide – both within
Ricardo and among other leading
companies. By presenting an up-to-date
mix of news, profiles and interviews with
top business leaders we paint an
interesting and exciting picture of R&D
activity at a world-class automotive
engineering services provider.
It is a formula that has certainly been a
hit with the worldwide automotive
community: in the five years since RQ
was launched we have had to increase
our print run to 14,000 copies to keep
pace with the demand to read about
Ricardo and its activities.
Client confidentiality is of the utmost
importance to Ricardo, which means that
we can only report on a small fraction of
the work carried out by the company. So
we are especially grateful to those
Ricardo customers who have kindly
agreed to co-operate with RQ and allow
their programmes to be highlighted in
print: without such help from customers it
would not be possible to present such a
fascinating insight into the way vehicles
are conceived and developed.
Carry-over winners
dominate engine awards
Only two new engines made it into the
winners’ enclosure in the 2006
International Engine of the Year awards.
Nine of the twelve classes were taken
by winners familiar from past years,
such as the five-litre BMW V10 as overall
Engine of the Year as well as Best
Performance Engine.
Familiar, too, were the 3.2 litre M-
series BMW, taking its class for the sixth
time, Toyota’s Prius Hybrid, three years
in a row as best for fuel economy, and
Honda making it seven years on the trot
for the Insight’s tiny three-cylinder IMA
hybrid.
The only fresh air came from
Volkswagen, courtesy of the 1.4 litre TSi
turbo-supercharged four cylinder as best
new engine and best between 1.0 and 1.4
litres – and Subaru for its turbocharged
flat four, taking the 2.0 to 2.5 litre class.
Innovative driveline for new Freelander
The new Land Rover Freelander, the first
to be built in Merseyside’s award-winning
Halewood plant, incorporates much
engineering innovation despite being the
brand’s entry level model.
The new 3.2 litre, transversely mounted i6
engine has its ancillaries gear-driven off
the rear of the block to save underhood
packaging width, while electronic control
and hydraulic actuation of the Haldex
centre coupling allows the fuel
efficiency of an on-demand 4x4 system at
the same time as the pro-active safety
benefits of a full-time set-up.
Four driver-selectable Terrain Response
programs control the parameters of the
engine, transmission, steering and
braking, while roll stability control is
achieved through gyroscopic sensing
which compares the rate of change of roll
angle with the steered course.
CO2-neutral seats
After bio fuels come bio fabrics.
Honda has developed seating and
interior trim materials derived
from plants, leading to a potential
saving of 50 kg of CO2 during the
building of the car.
Hybrid milestones
Just days after Toyota’s
cumulative global sales of its
Prius hybrid topped the halfmillion
mark, Europe celebrated
50,000 Toyota hybrids: 41,000
Prius and 10,000 RX and GS.
Multifuel Michelin
Both Volvo and General Motors
claimed record prize hauls in the
2006 Michelin Bibendum
Challenge for environmental
vehicles. Winners included a Volvo
able to run on five different fuels,
a flex-fuel V50 and a bi-fuel S60.
GM’s successes included the
third-generation fuel-cell
Hydrogen3, a Saab 9-5 BioPower,
Saturn’s hybrid Vue Green Line
and a natural-gas Zafira that’s
about to go on sale.
Q3, 2006 • RICARDO QUARTERLY REVIEW 05