New, cleaner engines for Piaggio

Piaggio is coming up with new, cleaner and greener diesel engines for its range of products in India. The Bharat Stage IV compliant diesel engines will be designed and developed by Ricardo.

Piaggio is in the process of transforming its image as a maker of crude diesel engine powered commercial vehicles to a producer of cleaner, powerful and fuel-efficient vehicles. As a result, new diesel particulates filter (DPF) equipped twin-cylinder 1.2-litre turbocharged diesel engine is being developed for the European markets. However, this will not be made available in India. A naturally aspirated version of the 1.2-litre diesel engine will be specially developed for our cost-sensitive market. This BS IV compliant diesel engine will power the entire range of Ape CVs available in India. This diesel particulate filter engine will churn out more power and offer better fuel efficiency with lower CO2 emissions.

Speaking on the collaboration of Ricardo and Piaggio, Ian Penny, director – engine engineering, Ricardo said, “The new two-cylinder diesel is both a world first in offering Euro5 compliance in an engine of this type, as well as providing a cost-optimized architecture for naturally aspirated products in India.”

Earlier in November 2010, Piaggio had revealed its plan of developing a low-cost three-seat city-car that could hit the roads by late-2013. Called the NT3, the Piaggio concept was conceived in India, and would battle the Tata Nano, the to-be-launched Hyundai Ha – an 800cc Rs 2- 3lakh small car, and a new sub-600cc Maruti, code named YE3.

The NT3 is based around Piaggio’s three-wheel Ape, its classic three-wheel commercial pick-up and van. The engine choices in the concept are 200cc or 300cc ‘bike engines, the 300cc also mated to a hybrid system.