Accepting the awards on behalf of Volkswagen was Dr Ruediger Szengel, Head of Gasoline Engine Development for Volkswagen AG, who commented: ‘A combination of downsizing, direct injection and high boost pressure produce exceptionally high specific power output and torque with low emissions and fuel consumption from a gasoline engine.’

He continued: ‘Small engine capacity means low friction losses and high refinement. Induction boosting provides the ability to operate with long gearing further benefiting fuel economy. Direct injection allows the use of a high compression ratio in conjunction with high boost pressures providing additional efficiency benefits. For similar reasons TSI technology avoids the need to inject extra fuel to cool the mixture at higher power outputs, providing TSI engines with a further fuel consumption saving over conventional, boosted gasoline engines.

‘The success of TSI technology in this competition has blossomed as it has become available in more countries throughout the world. We are convinced that our competitors will follow but we are determined to keep our lead.’

Dean Slavnich, co-chairman of the International Engine of the Year Awards said: The Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI engine fits into our smallest but one engine category and is the overall winner. The fact that it wins both the overall award and our Best Green Engine prize indicates that you can have performance and efficiency in one package. A shift in voting trends this year in favour of the downsized, boosted gasoline engine would seem to indicate that Volkswagen is setting the pace here. I’m sure we’ll see others follow very soon.’

Volkswagen has extended its TSI engine technology to include single-charged engines at reduced cost but units that still achieve high specific power outputs and with similar fuel efficiency. More than 2,373,000 TSI engines have been built to date of which 554,330 are 1.4-litre units, and the latest example is a new four-cylinder, 1.2-litre TSI unit with 105 PS in the new Polo. Twin-charging continues, of course, as the leading technology for performance and economy in spark-ignition production car engines.