Hyundai Develops its First Petrol Direct Injection Engine

SYDNEY – November 20, 2009: To help meet its goals of environmental leadership, Hyundai Motor Company has unveiled the 2.4 Theta II GDI, its first petrol direct injection engine.

Representing the biggest advancement in fuel injection – a 1980’s technology that replaced the carburettor - GDI puts Hyundai at the cutting edge of engine design and management by achieving three seemingly incompatible goals: lowering emissions while raising power output and improving fuel economy. Prior to GDI, a gain in one area came at the expense of one or the other two.

With a compression ratio of 11.3:1, the 2.4 Theta II GDI delivers 150kW at 6300rpm and 245Nm at 4250rpm. “The Theta II GDI convincingly demonstrates our parent company’s advanced powertrain engineering capabilities,” said Hyundai Motor Company Australia’s Sales and Marketing Director Kevin McCann.

Developed with a budget of AU$160 million, over a research period of almost four years, the new 2.4 Theta II will make its debut in the first half of 2010, initially in the all-new mid-sized sedan codenamed YF – beating the mid-size sedan competition with this exciting new technology – but will subsequently be expanded into other models.