General Motors to introduce smaller 1.4L turbo on US small cars next year

It looks like General Motors is going to move forward with production of new turbocharged 1.4L four cylinder engines next year and best of all we'll get them in some U.S. models. Last summer at GM's annual powertrain technology showcase, the company had a prototype Opel Astra equipped with just such an engine that we got to take a short drive in. This is part of GM's plan (like many other manufacturers) to move to smaller displacement boosted engines in order to get improved efficiency under light load conditions while still providing the power levels needed for accelerating on to highways. Likely first candidates for the engine are the Delta platform vehicles which include the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Astra in the U.S. market. The 1.4L turbo produces virtually the same 140hp as the 1.8L normally-aspirated engine that is standard in the Astra that is just coming to U.S. Saturn dealers. The smallest engine currently offered in the Cobalt is a 2.2L version of the EcoTec that's in the Astra.

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