To achieve higher brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and improve vehicle economy, the new development of dedicated hybrid engine (DHE), adopting the Atkinson or Miller cycle, has been becoming the current development trends. A base 1.5L natural aspiration (NA) engine with deep Atkinson cycle has been developed for dedicated hybrid vehicle application, which can achieve the highest BTE of 41.19%. In order to achieve higher BTE, several potential technologies which are easy for mass production application have been studied progressively, such as, higher compression ratio (CR), optimized exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) pick point, lower EGR temperature, higher EGR rate, higher RON number fuels, heat transfer reduction by polishing valve head, light boost, lower viscosity oil. The results show the combined technology application can achieve the highest engine BTE of 42.59%. This paper provides the studied technical routine and the achieved benefits step by step.