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At last - more news of the E01 - A real sports car engine for MG?


October 30, 2006 17:56 PM

China Carmaker And Partner To Manufacture Petronas Engine

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- China's carmaker Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) and Brilliant Culture Group Limited (BCG) have reached an agreement to jointly manufacture PETRONAS' EO1 engine for commercial use.

The project is scheduled to take off in December 2006 and production is expected to commence in 2009 with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, the national oil corporation said in a statement, here Monday.

PETRONAS will be the technology provider to the project and will provide support through its research and development (R&D) centre in Malaysia.

The partners are also currently exploring the possibility of establishing an engine R&D laboratory in China.

The statement said the agreement to embark on the project was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Nanning, China Monday.

State-owned corporation NAC is one of the largest automotive industrial enterprises in China while BCG, a consulting firm in China, will co-invest with NAC in the manufacturing facility for the engine.

Meanwhile, PETRONAS, NAC and BCG had signed a Letter of Intent in September 2005 to assess the use of PETRONAS EO1 engine technology for the carmaker's vehicle line-up.

The E01 engine, a result of PETRONAS' involvement in Formula One, is an aluminium gasoline engine family with a very compact design.

It has two bores, two strokes and three displacements (1.8L, 2.0L to 2.2L). It is an in-line 4 cylinder engine with 16 valves, DOHC, VVT and EMS, and emission standard designed for Euro V.

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=226944

 

[Windy]

A bit more information on this engine and why it is considered worthy of being fitted in an MG:

PETRONAS E01 engine commercialization in China

PETRONAS E01 engine is an aluminum engine with very compact design, which allows it to be fitted into various vehicle platforms with customised intake and exhaust manifold to match vehicle requirement. Among the same class of engines, E01 engine exceeds in its light weight, low fuel consumption, high output, high acceleration and Euro V emission.

PETRONAS is a Fortune Global 500 company with business operations in more than 30 countries. The PETRONAS E01 Engine was a result of PETRONAS' involvement in the Formula One when it became, in 1995, the main sponsor of the SAUBER PETRONAS Team. The collaboration provided it with the opportunity to engage in the value-added automotive engineering technology R & D. One of the immediate fruits of this collaboration was the successful development of the PETRONAS E01 Engine by a group of PETRONAS engineers. The PETRONAS E01 Engine was also fitted into the official cars of the PETRONAS Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix. For the year ended 31 March 2005, PETRONAS recorded gross revenue of US$36.1 billion and a pre-tax profit of US$9.4 billion.

The chief designer of this engine was Osama Goto who came to Sauber Petronas from the Ferrari F1 team and before that the Honda McLaren Formula One team where his engines propelled Ayrton Senna to 3 F1 world titles.