Jaguar Land Rover opens up on new Ingenium engines

JAGUAR Land Rover claims its forthcoming new family of hi-tech turbocharged petrol and diesel four-cylinder engines will deliver class-leading levels of power, torque and refinement, while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Due to enter production next year, initially in Jaguar’s new XE mid-size sports sedan but spreading quickly to other models across both brands in the JLR stable, the first powertrain in the so-called ‘Ingenium’ family will be a 2.0-litre diesel codenamed AJ200D.

The Tata Motors-owned British manufacturer is still to provide crucial information such as output and performance, but in confirming the AJ200D will be the first to go into volume production JLR said this week that it had reduced friction by 17 per cent compared to the current engine, “helping to make it one of the most efficient and responsive 2.0-litre turbo-diesels in its segment”.

Detailing key technologies common to the new engine family, which focus heavily on reducing internal friction and improving performance and refinement, JLR highlighted the use of roller bearings on the cam and balancer shafts, and computer control for oil and water pumps – the former delivering precise amounts of oil when needed and the latter ensuring the quantity of coolant is adjusted depending on engine temperature.

There are also electronic piston cooling jets to increase the efficiency in the oil-pumping circuit, and the crankshafts are offset in the blocks.

In keeping with the weight-reduction regime for chassis and bodies that JLR has instituted in recent years, the Ingenium engines weigh up to 80kg less than equivalent powertrains currently in service.

As well as being turbocharged, the Ingenium engines will all have direct fuel injection, variable valve timing and automatic idle-stop technology.

“Ingenium fulfils our commitment to offer our global customers some of the most advanced powertrains available in some of the lightest vehicles in the premium SUV and performance segments,” said JLR director of powertrain engineering Ron Lee.

“Being configurable and flexible are the key strands of Ingenium’s DNA because we have future-proofed our new engines from the outset.

“Ingenium will be able to accept new advances in fuel, turbocharging, emissions, performance and electrification technologies when they are ready and accessible to be deployed.” Mr Lee said his team had the “rare opportunity” to design the engine family from a clean sheet.

“We weren’t locked into any of the usual restrictions that force engineering compromises because we had no existing production machinery that would dictate design parameters, no carryover engine architectures to utilise and no existing factory to modify,” he said.

The brief for engineers at JLR’s Whitley and Gaydon facilities was tough – the new family of engines not only had to be fuel-efficient and high-performing but highly adaptable, too.

The new Ingenium engines were to be designed so they could be installed easily in any Jaguar or Land Rover product. They had to be scalable so the engine could be sized up or down depending on required displacement.

The engines also needed to accommodate four-wheel-drive, two-wheel-drive and electric hybrid systems, mated to either a manual or automatic transmission.

The engineers came up with a lightweight aluminium block which can be used for both petrol and diesel variants. The blocks have the same bore, stroke and cylinder spacing. Each cylinder has a capacity of 500cc.

The uniformity of the Ingenium engine means it can be configured into larger or smaller sizes quickly and easily.

The modular design means both petrol and diesel engines share common components, which according to JLR will improve quality and simplify the manufacturing process.