Because of the fuel cost rise, due to the first world oil shortage, in the early seventies, it was decided to initiate a research programme aimed to the evaluation of the potentiality of a small displacement, high speed, direct injection diesel engine in terms of fuel saving.
The engineering target was to develop a D.l. engine capable of operating with a satisfactory level of noise, emissions and smoke in the wide speed range required for passengers cars application.
More than 12 years have been spent in research and development since the first preliminary tests were carried out on a single cylinder research engine in the early 1976.
As a result of this long activity, was launched on June 1988 the CROMA T.D.2.0, the first passenger car in the world powered by a direct injection diesel engine.
The paper describes the evolution of the project from the first research engines up to the 4 cylinder 1.9 liter production engine.