General Motors is developing an all-new global engine family of smaller capacity petrol motors, called Ecotec small gas engine. These engines, which will power GM cars worldwide, will offer improved fuel economy, higher quality, better performance and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions.

GM's new small engine family will have powerplants ranging from 1 litre to 1.5 litres with a three- and four-cylinder setup, and will feature lightweight design and technologies such as direct injection, turbocharging and alternative fuel compatibility to provide both efficiency and on-demand performance. The new engines will have better NVH levels as well.

The US carmaker plans to engineer, develop and manufacture the new engines from multiple manufacturing hubs for global applications. The engine family consolidation is a part of GM’s larger product development strategy to reduce manufacturing costs along with engineering and manufacturing complexity, while improving competitiveness, efficiency and quality.

These engines will be built using a modular approach with interchangeable global components, which in turn will provide more flexibility for global vehicle programs. Production is likely to commence by 2015 and the Ecotec-powered vehicles are expected to hit global markets by the end of the decade.

“Our customers around the world agree we need to reduce our dependence on petroleum and reduce vehicle carbon emissions,” said Jim Federico, vehicle line executive for GM global small cars and electric vehicles. “We are working aggressively on vehicle electrification and other technologies, but the most immediate progress will come from continually improving the internal combustion engine.”

The new engine family is the result of an engineering partnership between GM and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), Shanghai General Motors (SGM) and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC). GM plans to manufacture as many as two million Ecotec engines per year globally.