Kia eyes 15% fuel savings from new stop-start engine

[DainBramaged]

Kia Motors Corp. will start offering in Europe this spring a stop-start feature that can improve fuel efficiency by up to 15 percent by turning off the engine at traffic lights.

The technology debuts in a new version of the Cee'd, a lower-segment car sold only in Europe. But Kia will bring the stop-start feature to other models in other markets in 2010.

The South Korean carmaker's "idle stop and go" system switches off the engine when the car stops in traffic and restarts it when the car moves on. In city driving, it can cut fuel consumption and emissions by up to 15 percent. Savings in mixed driving conditions average 6 percent.

Stop-start engine technology is being adopted by more automakers as a way to eke extra mileage from conventional gasoline engines. The fuel-saving feature is especially catching on in Europe, where stricter carbon emissions standards are sparking demand for cleaner cars.

In the Cee'd, the engine stops at a standstill and is re-engaged automatically as soon as the driver depresses the clutch to find first gear, Kia said in a release today. To offset the additional weight of the stop-start system, the cars get a new-generation, lighter-weight gearbox.

Kia did not say which other models will be getting the technology.

But spokeswoman Pamela Munoz said it will be offered on the company's yet-to-be named YN model due in November. It also will be available as an option on several models worldwide in 2010. More details will be announced later this year, she said.

German parts maker Robert Bosch AG supplies the stop-start equipment to Kia, which makes the Cee'd at its assembly plant in Zilina, Slovakia.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20090114/ANA02/901149966/1186 (subscription only)

[endarkenment]

1. I had a buick behemoth with a stop/start engine

damn oversized piece of crap would stop/start all the time when it was raining. WD40 was my friend. I hated that car.

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. Golf Carts for the street. n/t

[BlueJazz]

3. Don't know...American drivers have the Disgustingly , Annoying habit....

....of "Creeping" at lights.

You get to a Stoplight....say 10 cars back and you stop..
everybody in front of you Creeps until they are 7 inches from the car in front of them (and NATURALLY)...when the light turns green,
leave 200 feet in between cars. :mad:

If you don't move there's 45 feet between you and the next car. AAGG!

[damntexdem]

4. Wow, and here in North Texas, we can buy it from Obama.

Well, an Obama impersonator advertises them -- started during the election campaign.