Volkswagen bagged top honours at the International Engine of the Year Awards 2009, with its 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger petrol engine. The turbocharged and supercharged engine also won the ‘1-litre to 1.4-litre’ category and was also voted the ‘Green Engine of the Year’, beating both Toyota and Honda’s new electric-hybrid powerplants.
This is the first time in the company’s history that it has won this award. The engine, which is not available in India as yet, powers much of VW’s global model range including the Golf, Scirocco and Eos models.
According to Dean Slavnich, Editor of Engine Technology International and co-chairman of the International Engine of the Year Awards, “The VW engine is a masterstroke of downsizing technology and a real engineering showcase.” Although losing out on the top award this year, BMW once again secured success at the awards with its mighty ‘M Power’ 4-litre V8 topping the ‘3-litre to 4-litre’ category and its 3-litre DI Twin Turbo judged to be the best 2.5-litre to 3-litre engine. The company also shared a third category win with PSA Peugeot Citroen for its 1.6-litre Turbo engine in the ‘1.4-litre to 1.8-litre’ category, an outstanding engine that was developed by the two companies’ joint powertrain development venture.
Mercedes-Benz took three category wins with its 2.1-litre diesel winning the ‘2-litre to 2.5-litre’ category and its powerhouse, the AMG-developed, 6.2-litre V8 won the ‘above 4-litre’ category, with the same unit also judged to be the Performance Engine of the Year.
The awards, which are judged by a panel of 65 motoring journalists from 32 countries, including Autocar India Editor Hormazd Sorabjee, also rewarded a variety of other manufacturers for engine excellence in a number of different categories.
