Toyota's new engine technology— the D4 direct-injection gasoline engine and the inline-four 1ZZ-FE engine

摘要

Toyota innovates cautiously. It installed the sophisticated D4 direct-injection gasoline engine in an anniversary version of the Japanese-market-only Corona compact sedan. The engine's high cost, due to several expensive components and painstaking hand-assembly including plush leather upholstery, was partially offset by the price. The Coronal D4 production and sales trickled. Toyota is now expanding the application of the D4 to more models, and in the process has carried out significant modifications, involving as many as 60 components, for volume production (monthly production of 6000 units by the end of 1998 has been suggested by a Toyota source) and cost reduction.