Nissan Motor Co. has come up with a new type of gasoline engine that it says may make some advanced diesel engines obsolete.
The new engine uses variable compression technology, which Nissan engineers say allows it at any given moment to choose an optimal compression ratio for combustion — a key factor in the trade-off between power and efficiency in all gasoline-fueled engines.
The technology gives the new engine the performance of turbo-charged gasoline engines while matching the power and fuel economy of today's diesel and hybrid powertrains — a level of performance and efficiency the conventional gasoline engine has so far struggled to achieve.