MITSUBISHI'S mould-breaking GDI engine family now goes under the bonnets of 75% of the company's cars in Japan and 35% of models sold across Europe. The high-economy petrol engine is now being built in five versions ranging from a 1.5-litre in-line four-cylinder to a 3.5-litre V6 and production has reached a total of 600,000 units, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation powertrain chief Akira Kijima revealed at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.

'These figures show that GDI is now the standard engine in our line-up and we're happy that the technologies they incorporate have gained acceptance worldwide. But we're constantly working to refine the GDI principle, maximise performance and minimise production cost,' said Kijima. 'We're making significant advances on all fronts and have so far reduced the difference in cost between the GDI and a conventional engine by 65% from the initial level when it was introduced here at the Frankfurt show in 1995.

The company revealed two fresh concepts aimed at making further advances in powertrain technology. In its Advance smart utility wagon, the 1.5-litre GDI unit is linked with an integrated motor-generator and small lithium-ion batteries, all working via a continuously variable transmission. Alongside the Advance was the Compact, an urban family model driven by the company's next GDI engine, a 1.1-litre unit developing 78PS at 6,000 rpm.