4LT GS RoadsterCome Monday, some new electric motor or hybrid powertrain will steal the spotlight as the North American International Auto Show opens to the media.
But the muscle that will drive Detroit, as well as the entire world, for decades to come is the internal combustion engine.
Global warming and high gas prices have given the ICE a bad rap, but if you look under carmakers' collective hoods, you'll see these piston-pounding power plants improving as consumers and governments demand better mileage, cleaner emissions and safer vehicles. The internal combustion engines are more powerful, cleaner and more fuel efficient than ever.
The ICE age is far from over.
The vehicles on display at Cobo Center are testament to vast improvements in conventional technology. There's the Chevrolet Cruze (42 mpg), Hyundai Elantra (40 mpg) and Ford Fiesta (40 mpg). Forty mpg is quickly becoming the new norm.
"These engines are going to be around for a long time," said Joe Bakaj, Ford's vice president, powertrain and engineering. "There are still a lot of things we can do to make ICEs more efficient."
Advances continue even as the media and the government hype alternative powertrain vehicles, such as electric cars and gas-electric hybrids. Those vehicles, however, make up less than 3 percent of the U.S. car market, a percentage unlikely to reach even 10 percent by 2020, according to J.D. Power and Associates. What's more, most of those vehicles will continue to have some form of ICE propelling or charging it.
The success of smaller, more fuel-efficient engines is evident in U.S. car sales. Forty-three percent of all vehicles sold in the United States in 2009 had a four-bagger under their hoods, according to WardsAuto.com. That percentage has consistently climbed every year since 2004, when only 26 percent of vehicles had four-cylinder engines. Even more impressive is how many fewer V-8s are being sold. In 2004, 4.8 million vehicles had a V-8; five years later, 1.9 million had eight cylinders under the hood.
DNAI
But the muscle that will drive Detroit, as well as the entire world, for decades to come is the internal combustion engine.
Global warming and high gas prices have given the ICE a bad rap, but if you look under carmakers' collective hoods, you'll see these piston-pounding power plants improving as consumers and governments demand better mileage, cleaner emissions and safer vehicles. The internal combustion engines are more powerful, cleaner and more fuel efficient than ever.
The ICE age is far from over.
The vehicles on display at Cobo Center are testament to vast improvements in conventional technology. There's the Chevrolet Cruze (42 mpg), Hyundai Elantra (40 mpg) and Ford Fiesta (40 mpg). Forty mpg is quickly becoming the new norm.
"These engines are going to be around for a long time," said Joe Bakaj, Ford's vice president, powertrain and engineering. "There are still a lot of things we can do to make ICEs more efficient."
Advances continue even as the media and the government hype alternative powertrain vehicles, such as electric cars and gas-electric hybrids. Those vehicles, however, make up less than 3 percent of the U.S. car market, a percentage unlikely to reach even 10 percent by 2020, according to J.D. Power and Associates. What's more, most of those vehicles will continue to have some form of ICE propelling or charging it.
The success of smaller, more fuel-efficient engines is evident in U.S. car sales. Forty-three percent of all vehicles sold in the United States in 2009 had a four-bagger under their hoods, according to WardsAuto.com. That percentage has consistently climbed every year since 2004, when only 26 percent of vehicles had four-cylinder engines. Even more impressive is how many fewer V-8s are being sold. In 2004, 4.8 million vehicles had a V-8; five years later, 1.9 million had eight cylinders under the hood.
DNAI
