Photo: BMW AG
I don't know how many of you have already begun to notice this, but we are currently witnessing the biggest change in the history of the automobile.
Whatever gearheads are alive today will have a lot of stories to tell in this regard to the next generation of car lovers that (hopefully) will one day keep the fire burning for this mode of transportation.
Our parents and grandparents have also gone through their fair share of unexpected changes in the automotive industry. You have to realize that there was a time when cars didn't have windshield wipers or turn signals (some say that a bunch of Audi and BMW drivers still don't realize that turn signals have been invented for a long time now).
In an era far far away, instead of using a key or a transponder, you could only start a car by winding up the crankshaft by hand, using a removable crank handle that could intermittently kick you in the nuts once the engine started. The invention of the starter motor probably saved millions of future families on its own.
You could say that once the internal combustion engine took over other means of propulsion in personal cars, things haven't actually changed that much until now, but they did.
Sure, in modern vehicles with gas-fed internal combustion engines, gasoline and air are still ignited by spark plugs inside cylinders, which makes pistons go up and down (or side to side in most Subarus and Porsches), thus making a crankshaft rotate. That rotation is still sent to the vehicle's transmission, which in turn transmits it to the wheels.
That said, if you would send even a new pushrod V8 from GM into the 1950s, for example, engineers back then would probably see it as alien technology. Take the LT1 from the Corvette C8, for example. Despite being newly developed, it still uses the age-old pushrod design, and it's still a V8, but other than that, it has nothing even remotely in common with the classic small block Chevy we all know and most love.
Sure, it still doesn't have dual-overhead camshafts, but this 16-valve gets the job done with the help of electronically controlled direct injection, continuously variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation. These were unheard of in 1955 when the small block made its first appearance.
Still, after all said and done, and after all the technological improvements in recent years, the modern internal combustion engine is heading toward its imminent demise. The first type of ICE that will kick the bucket is the naturally aspirated one. Twin-scroll turbochargers and direct injection have already taken over as the technology of choice by most carmakers to be used as a lifeline for ICE, but as recent reports suggest, they're actually far from being magic bullets.
On the contrary, small displacement engines with turbochargers actually emit a lot more real-life emissions than their naturally aspirated counterparts with larger displacement. The same goes for the highly coveted direct injection engines, which will need to go hand in hand with particulate filters, just like diesels, in order to pass Euro 6c emissions regulations.
After that “there's no replacement for displacement” report emerged a few years ago, many pundits jumped to the conclusion that the next generation of ICE will probably go back to being naturally aspirated and slightly larger so as to deliver better real-life emissions.
As sad as it may sound, there is actually no going back. To give a few examples right from the heart of the automotive industry (yes, I'm talking about Germany), if you look at the current lineup of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, there is only one car that still uses a naturally aspirated engine, the Audi R8. Every single model from the rest of the premium trio's lineups uses some form of turbocharging and soon electrification, and we are talking about dozens of engines.
Do you actually think that the carmakers that most of the time set the trends in the automotive industry will suddenly switch to “Americanized” engines just because their turbocharged little mills pollute too much in real life conditions? Not gonna happen.
The downsizing trend will continue, but instead of exclusively using turbocharging boost, carmakers are now resort to mild-hybrid setups. No, I'm not talking about full hybrids or plug-in hybrids, which needs tens and hundreds of pounds of onboard batteries to keep them going, but engines built around a 48-volt electrical system.
Audi already made a small step in that direction introducing a tri-turbocharged V8 that also has an electrically driven supercharger to complement its classic twin-turbochargers. In 2017, Mercedes-Benz introduced a new line of turbocharged inline-six engines that have a small electric motor to act as a starter that also fills the torque gap down low in the revs. New four-cylinders use the same technology.
The old-school naturally aspirated engine is dying, and not even electricity will help preserve it a little longer. I'm willing to bet a nickel that as early as 2025, not a single major carmaker will have such a powerplant in its lineup. This is mostly sad for purists, and especially for those that never got to experience the immediate and linear throttle response of a naturally aspirated engine. I still hope that I won't have to write its obituary anytime soon, but history will probably contradict me a lot earlier than I expect. Buy them while you still can!
Our parents and grandparents have also gone through their fair share of unexpected changes in the automotive industry. You have to realize that there was a time when cars didn't have windshield wipers or turn signals (some say that a bunch of Audi and BMW drivers still don't realize that turn signals have been invented for a long time now).
In an era far far away, instead of using a key or a transponder, you could only start a car by winding up the crankshaft by hand, using a removable crank handle that could intermittently kick you in the nuts once the engine started. The invention of the starter motor probably saved millions of future families on its own.
You could say that once the internal combustion engine took over other means of propulsion in personal cars, things haven't actually changed that much until now, but they did.
Sure, in modern vehicles with gas-fed internal combustion engines, gasoline and air are still ignited by spark plugs inside cylinders, which makes pistons go up and down (or side to side in most Subarus and Porsches), thus making a crankshaft rotate. That rotation is still sent to the vehicle's transmission, which in turn transmits it to the wheels.
That said, if you would send even a new pushrod V8 from GM into the 1950s, for example, engineers back then would probably see it as alien technology. Take the LT1 from the Corvette C8, for example. Despite being newly developed, it still uses the age-old pushrod design, and it's still a V8, but other than that, it has nothing even remotely in common with the classic small block Chevy we all know and most love.
Sure, it still doesn't have dual-overhead camshafts, but this 16-valve gets the job done with the help of electronically controlled direct injection, continuously variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation. These were unheard of in 1955 when the small block made its first appearance.
Still, after all said and done, and after all the technological improvements in recent years, the modern internal combustion engine is heading toward its imminent demise. The first type of ICE that will kick the bucket is the naturally aspirated one. Twin-scroll turbochargers and direct injection have already taken over as the technology of choice by most carmakers to be used as a lifeline for ICE, but as recent reports suggest, they're actually far from being magic bullets.
On the contrary, small displacement engines with turbochargers actually emit a lot more real-life emissions than their naturally aspirated counterparts with larger displacement. The same goes for the highly coveted direct injection engines, which will need to go hand in hand with particulate filters, just like diesels, in order to pass Euro 6c emissions regulations.
After that “there's no replacement for displacement” report emerged a few years ago, many pundits jumped to the conclusion that the next generation of ICE will probably go back to being naturally aspirated and slightly larger so as to deliver better real-life emissions.
As sad as it may sound, there is actually no going back. To give a few examples right from the heart of the automotive industry (yes, I'm talking about Germany), if you look at the current lineup of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, there is only one car that still uses a naturally aspirated engine, the Audi R8. Every single model from the rest of the premium trio's lineups uses some form of turbocharging and soon electrification, and we are talking about dozens of engines.
Do you actually think that the carmakers that most of the time set the trends in the automotive industry will suddenly switch to “Americanized” engines just because their turbocharged little mills pollute too much in real life conditions? Not gonna happen.
The downsizing trend will continue, but instead of exclusively using turbocharging boost, carmakers are now resort to mild-hybrid setups. No, I'm not talking about full hybrids or plug-in hybrids, which needs tens and hundreds of pounds of onboard batteries to keep them going, but engines built around a 48-volt electrical system.
Audi already made a small step in that direction introducing a tri-turbocharged V8 that also has an electrically driven supercharger to complement its classic twin-turbochargers. In 2017, Mercedes-Benz introduced a new line of turbocharged inline-six engines that have a small electric motor to act as a starter that also fills the torque gap down low in the revs. New four-cylinders use the same technology.
The old-school naturally aspirated engine is dying, and not even electricity will help preserve it a little longer. I'm willing to bet a nickel that as early as 2025, not a single major carmaker will have such a powerplant in its lineup. This is mostly sad for purists, and especially for those that never got to experience the immediate and linear throttle response of a naturally aspirated engine. I still hope that I won't have to write its obituary anytime soon, but history will probably contradict me a lot earlier than I expect. Buy them while you still can!
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