Italian car maker Fiat will debut its highly-lauded TwinAir two-cylinder engine in Australia early in 2012 when it's packaged with the Fiat 500.
The Fiat 500's compact TwinAir engine has a tiny 875cc capacity -- less than 0.9-litres -- and has a parallel twin-cylinder layout. Making use of turbocharging, it outputs 63kW/145Nm which provides enough shunt to propel the car to 100km/h in 11 seconds.
As we discovered in Italy during our first drive of the TwinAir Fiat 500 in 2010, the compact engine is a neat little unit that suits the car well, adding character to the vehicle.
While power output is on par with sub-compact cars of a similar size, the engine is about half the size of its contemporaries and as such is very fuel efficient, using just 3.6L/100km, less than a Toyota Prius. Claimed CO2 emissions are also very low, just 92g/km.
The new 875cc TwinAir engine will replace the 1.4-litre engine that currently motivates Fiat 500s in Australia.
Voted as 2011 International Engine of the Year, 2011 Best New Engine and 2011 Best Green Engine, the Fiat TwinAir unit has been a long time coming for the Australian market.
As Fiat Australia's GM Andrei Zaitzev explains, the main problem has been the lack of green car tax incentives: "Until now we have been unable to bring TwinAir to Australia because we do not have the differential automotive tax system that enables advanced low emission/low consumption technology to be sold at market-competitive prices in Europe through reduced taxation.
"We have, therefore, negotiated hard to enable it to arrive in Australia and to do so at market competitive prices. We have no doubt that this remarkable technical advance in engine design will be as warmly welcomed in Australia as it has been in Europe and that it will strengthen Australian Fiat 500 sales," added Zaitzev.
Though no specific dates or pricing have been divulged, Fiat Australia says the TwinAir engines will be available locally from early 2012.
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