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As part of Nissan’s strategy of electrification and the shift to smart technologies, our powertrain department has two main pillars: zero emissions and ICE Evolution. As a core unit of ICE Evolution, we have developed a brand new 3.5L V6 Twin turbocharged gasoline engine for Nissan’s next generation full-size flagship SUV to deliver luxury and toughness at the highest level. This brand-new engine will be applied to vehicles in all corners of the world and must have strong performance in every corner. More specifically, it has to meet the latest emissions and fuel efficiency regulations, have strong power performance beyond expectation, and provide reliable drivability on rough roads and deserts. To achieve these requirements, the new engine is incorporating many cutting-edge technologies.

A new 2L gasoline turbo engine, named KR20DDET was developed with the world’s first mass-producible variable compression turbo (VC-Turbo) technology using a multi-link variable compression ratio (VCR) mechanism. It is well known that increasing the compression ratio improves gasoline engine thermal efficiency. However, there has always been a compromise for engine designers because of the trade-off between increasing the compression ratio and knocking. At Nissan we have been working on VCR technology for more than 20 years and have now successfully applied this technology to a mass production engine. This technology uses a multi-link mechanism to change the top and bottom dead center positions, thereby allowing the compression ratio to be continuously changed. The VC-Turbo engine with this technology can vary the compression ratio from 14:1 for obtaining high thermal efficiency to 8:1 for delivering high torque by taking advantage of the strong synergy with turbocharging.