Making more of what we have

Fiat tackles more technology in-house, makes increased use of the expertise and systems it has, reduces unit production time-and considers two-cylinder turbocharged engines.

Harald J. Wester, Chief Technical Officer, Engineering and Design, Fiat Group Automobiles, is quite clear about the company's policy in the short to medium term. “We must make more of what we have,” he said. “It must be used and optimized, and powertrains must be downsized.” Highly pragmatic and not easily swayed by popular opinions, Wester is confident both of Fiat's continued commercial resurgence and of its technological capabilities to tackle the major challenges facing the auto industry.

He is wary of any expectancy that biomass will be a significant contributor to meeting the CO₂ emissions challenge, regards fuel-cell technology as increasingly far out, and sees a continuing question mark over full hybrids. “Micro hybrids (stop-start systems) with regenerative braking, I do believe in, and we will see this on a B-segment Fiat,” said Wester. “Looking further out, to 2015, to achieve improved costs I believe a good power-train solution for this type of car might be a two-cylinder, 800-900 cm³, turbocharged gasoline engine with variable valve technology and a small, robotized manual gearbox controlled by improved software.”