04.30.2013
Forbes: “Why Your Next Car Will Probably Have A Turbocharger”
Turbocharging is growing even faster in the U.S. market than some analysts expected, largely because diesel passenger cars finally seem to be gaining some momentum, reports Forbes. “The number of additional diesel applications coming to the U.S. market has been a real surprise,” said Tony Schultz, vice president of the Americas for Honeywell Turbo Technologies. Turbos are also catching on in the United States in gasoline engines, often in combination with direct injection which allows automakers to switch to smaller gas engines to save fuel without sacrificing power. By 2018, Honeywell expects diesel and gasoline turbo engines combined to account for about 20 to 25 percent of U.S. new-vehicle sales. According to Schultz, “If it’s diesel or gasoline, we feel strongly that turbos will play a part.”
03.14.2013
Volkswagen Victorious Again in Round Three of WRC
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC, with driver Sébastien Ogier, won the third round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). According to Motorsports.com, Ogier “dominated the Rally Mexico from start to finish” to claim his second win of the season, following the duo’s success at the Rally Sweden. In fact, the number 8 Polo R WRC was among the fastest four cars on every stage which is no small feat considering the challenging race environment in Mexico. A story on the WRC website explains the Rally Mexico course is set at high altitude – close to 3,000 meters in some places – and the thinner air at high altitudes causes the turbocharged engines to lose approximately a quarter of their performance. Volkswagen partnered with Honeywell and others to develop a detailed engine map for Mexico that limits loss of performance without endangering the stability of the turbocharger; that work clearly paid off. Honeywell proudly serves as the exclusive turbo supplier for all of the participating race cars in the WRC.
02.20.2013
Honeywell Turbocharged Volkswagen Wins WRC in Sweden, Beats Nine-Time Rally Champion Citroën
The brand-new Volkswagen Polo R WRC, driven by Sebastien Ogier, took first place at the recent FIA World Rally Championship’s (WRC) Rally Sweden. This victory comes on the heels of the team’s impressive second-place finish at the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo and, as European Car reports, was especially impressive considering they beat the dominate Citroën team and its driver Sébastien Loeb who has won the world championship a record nine times in a row. All of this success prompted the VW team to admit they have already far exceeded their own expectation for the team’s debut season in the WRC. Honeywell is proud to serve as the exclusive turbo supplier for all of the participating race cars.
02.20.2013
Automotive News: Turbos shift to fast lane in N.A.
Automotive News reports the production of turbocharged vehicles is expected to “jump nearly 32 percent this year as automakers reduce the size of engines to improve fuel economy,” according to a forecast by IHS Automotive. In the article, Tony Schulz, vice president of the Americas for Honeywell Turbo Technologies explains “automakers are downsizing and boosting their engines. We’re seeing an all-out push for more applications.” And this is just the beginning. “Turbocharger use will continue to rise over the next five years as automakers race to meet the 54.5 mpg CAFE standard by the 2025 model year. In 2014, for example, IHS Automotive projects 3.5 million light vehicles produced in North America will be turbocharged, up 20 percent from 2013′s expected output.”
01.15.2013
VW Makes Its WRC Debut, Boosted by Honeywell
Volkswagen’s brand-new Polo R WRC race car makes its debut this month at the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in Monte Carlo, marking the global carmaker’s first season participating in the iconic race. The unique race car boasts 1,700 parts designed completely from scratch including a state of the art turbocharger from Honeywell. After 20,000 kilometers of testing, Volkswagen feels confident their new race car and team are prepared to endure the grueling race conditions. In an article on Motorsports.com, Jari-Matti Latvala, one of the Polo R WRC drivers, said “the tests up to now have shown that the Polo R WRC is very reliable. It is very stable and the driveability of the engine is also very good. I can hardly wait for the season to get started.”
Learn more about the Honeywell-turbocharged Volkswagen Polo R WRC on Volkswagen’s Motorsports page and WRC site. Or, learn more about the World Rally Championship Race which is regarded as the biggest all-around test in international motorsport.
01.15.2013
Honeywell’s Racing Experience Generates Exciting Ideas for Passenger Cars
The Automotive Engineer website published an interview with Jeff Lotterman, Honeywell Turbo’s advanced technology and global motorsport manager, who explained how Honeywell’s successful Formula One and Le Mans racing programs have been benefiting the company’s OE business. Lotterman says Honeywell’s racing experience offers valuable lessons in everything from aerodynamics, temperature endurance, ball bearings and creative materials usage. For example, Lotterman said “there’s a turbine wheel material that’s becoming more commonly used on turbochargers for gasoline engines, and that’s an aerospace material. We were the first to bring that into turbocharging in the Formula One era. Another example would be ball bearings. Daimler’s V6 diesel has a ball bearing turbocharger. We first introduced that technology in motorsport.”
01.15.2013
MSN Auto Recognizes Turbochargers as a Mainstream, Fuel-Efficient Technology
MSN’s Auto Blog declared turbocharging a fuel-efficient technology that went mainstream in 2012 saying “it’s no longer for just the vroom-vroom-vroom set.” In the blog post, Rick Balsley, Chevrolet’s engineering group manager of charging says “in simplest terms, turbocharging saves fuel by allowing you to use a smaller engine… turbocharging gives you extra power when you need it and the benefit of driving a smaller engine when you don’t.” This, Balsley says, can “bring the ‘fun to drive’ back to cars.”
11.29.2012
Turbocharged Clean Diesel Sales Report Consistent Growth in U.S.
“While there has been some volatility in the U.S. and world auto markets, I think clean diesel cars and light duty trucks are in the early stages of a renaissance in America,” said Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum in an article published on Heraldonline.com. “An important trend in U.S. clean diesel sales is the consistency of the monthly increases. Diesel sales have increased in 26 of the past 27 months with 23 of these months showing double-digit increases.” Thanks in large part to turbochargers, today’s diesels are fast, efficient, and clean. In fact, turbocharged clean diesels are 20 to 40 percent more fuel efficient than their gasoline counterparts. According to Schaeffer, higher and fluctuating fuel prices and new federal fuel efficiency standards make clean diesels an attractive option and have helped boost sales.
10.15.2012
U.S. Turbo Sales to Triple by 2017
Automotive News, MotorAuthority.com and Speed TV all report that Honeywell expects U.S. turbocharger sales to triple from 1.3 million last year to approximately 4 million by 2017. Put another way, by 2017 Honeywell expects 25 percent of the roughly 16 million new vehicles sold in the United States to be turbocharged. Honeywell’s Vice President of the Americas for Turbo Technologies, Tony Schultz, attributes this growth, at least in part, to new, more stringent emissions requirements. He told Automotive News, “with the new CAFE standards out there, downsized powertrains is a primary adoption strategy. In North America, I don’t see any slowdown in the adoption rate.”
10.04.2012
Honeywell’s Turbo Makes Europe’s Best-Selling Car Even Better
The seventh generation of Europe’s best-selling car and Volkswagen’s highest selling model of all time, the Golf, was revealed at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. According to the New York Times, “the most important objective of Golf engineers was to reduce weight and consequently improve fuel economy.” A later article by the New York Times says VW achieved this goal with the new 1.6-liter Honeywell-turbocharged BlueMotion diesel engine which is “15 percent more efficient than the model it would replace, improving highway fuel economy.” MSN reported “it’s the Golf we all know and love, only better” delivering 110-horsepower and “a staggering 94 mpg (EU).”
