Volkswagen has reportedly announced that they will soon be abandoning their naturally aspirated engines as they release new products.

This comes after the introduction of the Passat Performance concept which Volkswagen presented at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show featuring a 1.8-litre turbo engine – an important change for Das Auto.

Naturally Aspirated Engines VS Turbo Engines

What is the big deal between the two engines you ask?

Well, a naturally aspirated engine is an internal combustion engine, in which fuel intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure. Whereas a turbo engine is a turbine driven forced induction device used to allow more power to be produced by an engine of a given size. This engine can be more powerful and efficient than a naturally aspirated engine because the turbine forces more air, and proportionately more fuel, into the combustion chamber than atmospheric pressure alone.

So the plan is to replace all 2.5-litre engines in the US (for now) with a new 1.8 TSI. Volkswagen’s executive vice president for group quality Mark Trahan said the “automaker plans to replace its three remaining naturally aspirated or non-turbocharged engines – a 2.5-litre inline-five and two versions of its 3.6-litre V6 engine when the models that use each engine come up for redesigns or mid-cycle refreshes.” The change is also because smaller forced induction engines offer similar performance but improved economy over their larger, naturally aspirated counterparts.

This pattern has already been followed locally with the popular seventh generation Golf which launched earlier this year and is available with a range of new engines (including turbo) and in three trim levels namely Trendline, Comfortline and Highline.

Other automakers like Ford with their EcoBoost engines are adopting the same strategy, including Volvo which has already revealed its next-generation engines, known as the Drive-E range.

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