'Less is more' has become one of the great tenets of the modern age. Sadly, it is a philosophy that has mostly been given short shrift by the motor industry. 'More is more'— or maximalism — has been the longtime motoring mantra, practised from Motown to the Midlands to Munich.
A few thinking engineers have bucked the trend of automotive elephantiasis, most notably Issigonis with the first Mini and Giacosa with his little post-war Fiats. Elsewhere, 'new' has invariably meant 'bigger'. Bigger bodies have required larger engines, heftier brakes, more capacious fuel tanks, thicker steels, wider tyres - and so the automotive circle of strife has continued.
Yet, in the past few years, automotive engineers have finally been getting into the minimalist spirit. As a result of rising fuel prices, legislation demanding lower CO2 emissions and customer desire to be seen to be green, cars have slowly and hesitantly started to get lighter. Engines are getting smaller. V8s are being replaced by V6s. And V6s are giving way to more frugal four-cylinder units.
Fiat, for many years the minimalist champion, has now gone one — or more precisely, two — better, by launching a twin-cylinder, the only such engine currently on sale in Europe.
Twin-cylinder engines are not new. Anyone who has owned a Citroën 2CV — I have had two — will testify to the cheerful thrum of its horizontally opposed air-cooled 'twin'. The marvellous old Fiat 500 was two-cylinder powered (if 13bhp could be called 'power'). In India, the tiny Tata Nano is propelled by an eager pair of cylinders.
Fiat's new engine, of just 875cc capacity, is initially fitted to the charismatic little 500. The result, the Fiat 500 Twin Air, actually provides substantially better performance than the normal 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol-engine 500: power is up 23 per cent yet fuel consumption is cut by 15 per cent. These are astonishing figures: improvements in performance and fuel economy, from one generation of car to the next, are normally measured in single figures, at best.
The 500 gets its brisk performance from a turbocharger, which gives it a healthy helping hand, especially up hills. It gets its frugality from its tiny engine's light weight — the 500 Twin Air's weighs just 900kg (a basic new Mini's, on the other hand, weighs 1060kg) — and its new-generation engine design. "Every single component has been rethought to offer maximum efficiency," says Giovanni Mastrangelo, the car's project manager.
The 500 Twin Air is proof that there is life yet in the petrol engine. Sceptics write if off, saying the future will be hybrid or battery electric. Perhaps long term it will be. But a new generation of petrol cars is about to hit the street, all offering big mpg savings — thanks to downsized engines, newfangled direct fuel injection, advanced electronic controls, regenerative braking and automatic stop-start in traffic, among other technologies.
And it's not just happening in Europe. Mazda is about to launch a revised petrol engine, tagged Skyactiv, which boasts a 25 per cent economy improvement and 15 per cent more power. Mazda is one of many makers that think the best way to cut automotive carbon emissions, at least medium term, is to concentrate on improving petrol engines.
So less fuel consumption meets more driving fun, less engine size equals more performance. 'Less is more' intelligent minimalism has finally hit the motor industry.
Gavin Green is a motoring journalist and consultant.
blog comments powered by
