The age of smaller engines may be over

The downsizing revolution may be over. 

Volkswagen was one of the pioneers of engine downsizing, offering many smaller, turbocharged units across its range such as its 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine offered overseas in the Polo and locally in the Audi A1. 

In an interview with The Telegraph, Volkswagen chairman Herbert Diess was quoted saying, "The trend of downsizing is over." 

However, Diess isn't saying that the company will stop downsizing its larger engines but rather Volkswagen has reached the limit in regards to its smallest engines. 

The logic behind this is the smaller an engine gets the harder it has to work and therefore it reaches a point where emissions actually go up.  

Volkswagen will continue to offer the 1.0-litre turbo petrol and 1.6-litre turbodiesel but the company won't go any smaller. 

The German car maker isn't the first car company in recent times to state that smaller, turbocharged engines aren't the future. 

Mazda's head of research and development, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, recently intimated to Drive at the 2016 Los Angeles motor show that real world economy tests would favour larger naturally-aspirated engines. 

While Mazda has in recent times focused on its Skyactiv range of naturally-aspirated engines and the company and now Fujiwara wants to develop a larger engine than the current 2.5-litre unit. 

Mazda has also stated that it won't offer a turbocharged engine in any other model than the new CX-9 seven seat SUV and that they can deliver the efficiency required without complex turbocharging.