The upside of engine downsizing: senior auto executives give their views

To downsize or not to downsize? That's the engine-development question facing all OEMs. In an initial move to be seen to be more environmentally responsible, for many, downsizing seemed to be a thoroughly sensible answer. Engineers were delighted to demonstrate their ideas for extracting maximum energy from minimum cubic capacity-and marketing executives were equally delighted with the advent of a new angle for product promotion.

But as with most elements of automotive engineering, engine downsizing has proven to be not quite that simple. “Rightsizing” is the alternate term to emerge to describe rather more pragmatic solutions to reducing a vehicle's carbon footprint. Not as emotive or positive-sounding as downsizing, “rightsizing” nevertheless has found approval among several OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.