Fiat to stay out of Chrysler's way on MultiAir
American company taking advantage of new partner's technology to get new cars out sooner than expectedChrysler will debut the first of its ground-breaking MultiAir gasoline engines early next year at the latest, according to key sources
The Fiat-controlled U.S. car company has been working to make Fiat's revolutionary air-intake system fit its current engine range and is expecting an instant 10 per cent lift in both power and torque and a 10 per cent reduction in fuel consumption.
And, unusually, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne has ordered his key MultiAir engineers to trust Chrysler's engineers to make the system work.
"There are a few of our people over there, but we were told that Chrysler had very good engineers and they could easily do the work themselves," a key Fiat engineering source admitted.
"A lot of us were preparing to head across to Michigan, but it didn't take long before they appreciated the Americans were on top of the job.
"We're ahead of them here, though, because we started earlier. They're working heavily on production applications, but we're doing that alongside working new opportunities for the system. And everything we do, they can have as well."
The Fiat Group has the engine technology on sale in Europe on two cars -- the Alfa Romeo MiTo and the Fiat Punto Evo -- and the first Chrysler products to benefit from it are also expected to be four-cylinder models.
"Once the resources are committed, it takes us less than a year -- a lot less than a year -- to bring a MultiAir engine to production," the source insisted.
The key to this speed is that the system is modular, dispensing with both the throttle and the inlet camshaft and using the engine's own oil to directly act on the valve itself. It's also easy to apply in production, because it fits on top of any existing engine and sitting inside the carrier that once held the inlet camshaft.
Getting the MultiAir technology onto Chrysler cars as soon as possible was a key part of Fiat's deal with the U.S. Government, and reduced emission figures are amongst the conditions Chrysler must meet for Fiat to raise its share in Chrysler from 20 per cent to 40 per cent.
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