Subaru diesel boxer engine unveiled in Geneva

The new Subaru diesel boxer engine was unveiled this month at the Geneva Motor Show. While no official power figures were release in Geneva, some speculate that the 2.0 litre turbo engine will produce 163hp and 251lb-ft of torque. The first Subaru cars which will be equipped with the new diesel engine will be the Legacy and Outback and they are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2008. The Impreza and Forester models will follow on, but the dates have not yet been confirmed.

Picture from Autoblog.

With the new diesel engine, Subaru wishes to increase its sales in Europe by up to 40 percent over the next three years. No words of a Subaru diesel engine in North America yet.

Subaru will unveil its new boxer turbo diesel engine next month at the Geneva International Motor Show. The new Subaru diesel engine will be on display at the Subaru stand.

The new diesel engine is supposed to make its debut in production cars next year. This new engine will probably help Subaru reach its target of 100000 units sold in the European market by the end of 2010.

Source: easier Motoring

Subaru Europe President Hiroyuki Ikeda dropped an unexpected announcement in his Paris motor show speech when he mentioned that the company was working on a SubaruBoxer Turbo Diesel and that development is nearly complete.

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The superb rotational balance of the horizontally-opposed engine allows low vibration because the pistons counteract each other to cancel it out. Moreover, with its firmly supported crankshaft, the crankcase construction is strong enough to resist huge combustion pressure. The horizontally-opposed engine’s character is proving an excellent match for a diesel engine.

Rather than buying in a diesel engine from another manufacturer, Subaru has opted to develop its own diesel, and has running examples of a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit. This engine will first appear in Subaru’s Legacy family car in 2008.

Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru cars, is developing a diesel engine with an eye to mounting it on its flagship model in Europe as early as the end of next year, its president said.

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“Because we’re a small company, we had to choose between hybrid and diesel. […] We’re hoping to get it to market sometime around the end of 2007, or 2008,” he said.

The engine would be compatible with its iconic symmetrical all-wheel-drive system, used on about two-thirds of its vehicles. Subaru will probably start offering the diesel option on the Legacy model, Takenaka suggested.

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To reduce investment outlays, Subaru would build the engines on the same line as gasoline engines — a task that was possible thanks to the unique structure of the symmetrical AWD drivetrain, he said.

Fuji Heavy has yet to decide how specifically to proceed in developing gasoline-electric hybrid cars using Toyota’s technology, but Takenaka said those vehicles would come to market only after the diesel products.

[…] in Europe Subaru has confirmed it is developing a diesel version of its trademark boxer (horizontally-opposed) four-cylinder engine.

Expected to debut in Europe in 2007, the 2.2-litre turbodiesel powerplant will be a modual engine. A six-cylinder 3.3-litre version will likely slot into Outback and Tribeca variants down the track.

The diesel powerplant was confirmed by president and CEO of Fuji Heavy industries, Kyoji Takenaka, at the recent Geneva Motor Show.

According to Kyoji Takenaka, President of Fuji Heavy, the makers of Subaru cars:

Takenaka added it hoped to raise its European auto sales to 100,000 units by 2010, from about 64,000 forecast for 2006, with the introduction of cars mounted with its first diesel engine, which is under development.

“I believe diesel engines will play a big role in the expansion,” he said. “Technology-wise, we will likely be able to introduce a high-performance, horizontally opposed diesel engine in 2007 or ‘08 to achieve the goal of 100,000 units in Europe.”

Read the full article here.