Volvo will unveil its new ‘VEA’ (Volvo Environmental Architecture) engine family in Frankfurt. With a focus on fuel-efficiency and low emissions, the new Volvo powerplants are exclusively four-cylinders.
“It’s time to stop counting cylinders,” revealed Volvo Cars R&D president Peter Mertens. “At the Frankfurt Motor Show we will reveal a new concept car. It proves that downsized engines can go hand in hand with our customers’ expectations on luxury and driving pleasure.”
Volvo says the VEA engine range is broad – from high performance to super-economy. The lineup will include direct-injection petrol and common-rail diesels.
Volvo says this technology will deliver the performance of a six-cylinder engine with fuel consumption and emissions lower than current four-cylinder engines.
Already, fuel economy is improved by 35 per cent, weight is down by around 90kgs and, with 60 per cent fewer unique parts, the cost of manufacturing is also lower.
Under development by Volvo is an F1-style KERS system (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). This captures braking energy in a flywheel spinning up to 60,000rpm – that stored energy is then used for acceleration or to boost performance at cruising speed.
As part of the program, to improve economical manufacturing, Volvo will roll out a new vehicle architecture called SPA (Scalable Platform Architecture) which will allow most Volvo models to be use the same production line (regardless of model variants and sizes).
Vehicles designed for SPA will be up to 150kgs lighter than those built using current technologies.
Volvo says its Frankfurt concept car has been designed for SPA and as well as the manufacturing and fuel-economy advantages, the new system allows for greater design freedom – a fact the company will highlight in the new concept car.
