Nissan to turbocharge future engines – report
August 4, 2009 by Matt Brogan
In a recent interview with Motor Trend, Tetsuya Takahashi, a member of Nissan’s Powertrain Engineering Division, said Nissan is once again considering forced induction of its mainstream engines.
The announcement comes as looming emissions standards push many of Nissan’s existing engines by the way side, and with several manufacturers – such as BMW, Ford and GM – already making such a move, it seemed logical for Nissan to follow suit.
Assuming Mr Takahashi is correct the switch to turbocharged engines would see Nissan’s mainstream cars benefit from not only more power, but fewer emissions and greater fuel economy.
Currently Nissan only produces a handful of turbocharged engines which include turbo diesels as well as the twin-turbo V6 found in the GT-R.
It is believed from the interview that Nissan would rely heavily on parent company Renault to source the required technology.
Although Nissan have yet to give an official nod to the project there’s a good chance the move will come within the next two years.
CarAdvice will keep you posted.
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Well overdue by all manufacturers. Why not turbo charge all cars? For very little additional expense there are great gains in power and efficiency available.
The question needs to be asked, why hasn’t this been done already?
Simon, it’s not well overdue for all manufacturers – it’s all mfs but VW.
VW is way ahead of the field with small engines turboed, not to mention way ahead again with small engines turboed and supercharged at the same time.
The rest are belatedly seeing the light of how to cope with Euro IV, let alone Euro VI.
So more and more manufacturers are going forced induction these days….. I wonder if Toyota and Honda are going to stick with their hybrid path and what they are going to bring onto the table….
Toyota’s found their market i think…. It’s Honda that needs to react swiftly.
great, so that’s a nother bunch of cars that us p plate drivers can’t drive
Pity for VW and Nissan that the dopey RTA still bans small turbo charged engines from P platers.
Tiguan 2.0 turbo 147kw…banned
Toyota RAV4 V6 201kw..exempt
Once more manufacturers use turbos the RTA will be forced to make amendments.
I agree Sgt.Sweetchuck. It seems the RTA has no knowledge of the mechanicals of cars. They seem to forget that F/I raises the torque output of an engine allowing it to have a smaller displacement and run at a lower RPM (for a given power output), all of which saves petrol. Arbitrarily banning all turbochargers suggests to me that they are largely a political organization, more concerned about influencing public opinion than any alleged ‘dangers’ of turbocharged vehicles.
The RTA is so stuck in their ways that they think if they change the laws know they will look stupid. I mean just because a car has a small turbo i cant drive it. The Honda S2000 manages awesome acceleration without turbos, but im allowed to drive that. I mean i cant even drive my grnadparents C Class because it has a supercharger. This governmnet over regulates us and then cant fess up for their failures.
Great Idea Nissan however,
Insurance companies will love the idea, the word Turbocharger or Supercharger gets their billing departments into a feeding frenzy.
Law has been returned back to the original – its up to the power to weight again now for P platers: 125KW per metric tonne. I’m not 100% sure on this so don’t quote me if you get pulled over and I was wrong, but I could bet my beer on it – oh well, bottom up.
hmmm… a turbo charged 370Z. Could only be a good thing,,,,
Main reason japanese manufacturers “ditched” turbo charged 2.0~1.8~1.6 litre engines is due to the globalizing its availability. And due to the many regulations developed recently that manufacturers must meet, it meant re-engineering the drive trains… which takes away resources from the manufacturers. That and the fact that turbo charging vehicles isnt really ideal for “economy” vehicles and trend that the market is going towards.
I love the 90s turbo crazed, I had a couple of turbo coupes that sadly today we dont have replacements for at the moment.
but the fact is, manufacturers tend to use resources on profit making features and not performance…
hopefully it changes and some do spend money on development.. Nissan are crazy though, that they always opt for sports cars.. gotta love em.!
Jester – I think your comments apply to Victoria. In NSW each person has to apply to the RTA to get approval to drive a turbo’d car.
Swampdawg – maybe if the RTA eased up on turbo cars and used power/weight as in Vic the Insurance Companies may drop into line. Just a thought.
Lukaas – the current Golf with the 1.4L is very fuel efficient and when required has a goodly amount of poke. I believe diesel Golf sales will suffer as the 1.4L turbo/supercharged Golf kills it in most areas and is almost as fuel efficient: TDI 5.6l/100k, TSI 6.2l/100k (both using DSG gearbox)
Why would Nissan rely on Renault for turbo technology? During the late 80s and 90s, virtually every nissan was turbocharged yet I can’t think of a single Renault that’s turboed. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Renault’s ever produced anything even close to a GT-R technology wise so why go to them for advice?