Fiat two-cylinder engine plans revealed

The car world's first mainstream two-cylinder engine in nearly 20 years will arrive next year -- but it won't make its production debut in the much-heralded Topolino revival (second picture).

Sources indicate the 900cc (0.9-litre) engine, which was shown in the Panda Aria concept car (first picture) in September, will arrive in Fiat's big-selling 500 cult car late in 2010 in Europe.

Far from being a strictly city-car engine, sources insist Fiat will even fit its twin cylinder motor into the larger, 1100kg, B-segment Punto Evo as it strives to maintain its status as the lowest-emitting full-line manufacturer in Europe.

Fiat already insists the in-line two-cylinder engine will boast more than 120 horsepower in turbocharged form, while the naturally-aspirated two pot has average carbon emissions of less than 90 grams per kilometre.

A naturally aspirated version of the engine is expected to find its way into the back end of the rear-drive Topolino, but with the Panda being one of the biggest winners from Europe's scrappage schemes, it won't be seen officially until late in 2010 or early 2011.

The 3m long Topolino -- long-awaited successor to Fiat's classic baby car and the little brother to the Panda and 500 -- will be built in the low-cost Serbian plant Fiat picked up when it took over Zastava.

The three-seat Topolino will have a unique platform to take on the smart fortwo and the Toyota iQ, and the two-cylinder engine will slot beneath the boot floor.

With the European Union pushing carmakers towards a corporate average carbon emission limit of 120 grams per kilometre, the Topolino, with the Punto Evo's Start&Stop system and Fiat's new dual-clutch semi-automatic gearbox as standard equipment, will help immensely.

The two-cylinder achieves its outputs, Fiat sources claim, because it employs the MultiAir electro-hydraulic valve-opening system, which does away with air inlet camshafts in favour of direct hydraulic control of the valve.

Because of the inherent imbalance of the two-cylinder layout (with a four-stroke engine), sources say the engine has a "funny noise" from the counter-rotating balance shafts, but that's the only way people would pick it from a four-cylinder 500.

"The turbo is already faster and more flexible than the base four-cylinder petrol engine in the Punto Evo," the source insisted.

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