This is part of a series that I'm writing about the Tritec engine. I worked on the development of this engine (and it's variants for almost 4 years at Chrysler in the Auburn Hills, Mi Technical center).
Here's a link to my introduction post:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4160448

Part 1

Commercial origins:

Back in around 1995-6, Chrysler management was eager to re-establish a presence in the European and South American markets. Bob Lutz (COO) and François Castaing, VP of Engineering & International Operations were spearheading these efforts. So it was decided that Chrysler needed to explore building a B-segment vehicle, something along the size of the current Fiat 500 or the Gen1 Mini. While Chrysler had developed a 1.8L version of 2.0L SOHC used in the Neon, it was thought that a smaller and more fuel efficient purpose built engine was needed for the B-segment. The Neon (a C-segment vehicle) was to be the first adopter of this new 1.6L engine with a B-segment vehicle to follow. Perhaps something along the lines of the Java concept car that was shown at the Frankfurt auto show in 1999. The 1.6L was to be the base engine for these markets. Unfortunately, the relatively small projected volumes could not support a "go it alone" program for Chrysler. The financials just didn't make sense. So Chrysler went shopping for a partner to share in the cost of the program. Doug Livermore (now retired) was the Engine Engineering Manager (promoted to Director at the inception of the Tritec program) tasked to find a partner. He traveled the world meeting with several large OEM's. It just so happened that Rover group was starting work on the new Mini at the same time and they had a big problem!

BMW, who had acquired Rover Group a few years prior, was bleeding cash from the Rover Group operations. BMW also had a family of small DOHC 4-cylinder engines under development in Munich. The base engine started out as a 2.0L i4, with 1.8L and 1.6L variants also being developed. These engines would all feature double VANOS and variable intake manifolds, i.e., they would have some expensive technical content. Too expensive as it turns out. And it was also proving to be physically too big to package within the envelope that the Mini vehicle designer had envisioned. As with all Automotive OEM's, BMW conducts it's share of competitive analysis. Rumor has it that they were grudgingly impressed with the 2.0L Neon SOHC engine from a "bang for the buck" perspective.

I can only imagine the eye rolling and outrage at the engineering center in Munich when BMW Product Chief and Chairman of Rover Group, Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle, and Bernd Pischetsrieder, then the CEO of BMW made the decision to pair with Chrysler in this endeavor. I think that they might have been the ONLY two BMW people that supported it! As a side note, it turns out that Pischetsrieder is a cousin of Sir Alec Issigonis. So a joint venture was formed, with BMW and Chrysler spiltting the funding of the new company, to be called "Tritec Motors" 50/50, and then Tritec hiring back Chrysler Engineering to design and develop the engine. A concept CAD 3D model and basic specifications for this new engine had already been developed by Chrysler Engineering (it was part of the "road show") when the JV agreement was made. The JV agreement included technical performance targets as well as size targets. Things like oil consumption, fuel consumption, torque, power, emissions and so on. The Tritec JV would agree to build a new plant from scratch in a greenfield site in the State of Parana Brazil, in Campo Largo, near Curitiba, a city of over 1 million and considered to be one of the best cities in Brazil to live. So an all new engine, as part of a JV in an all new plant in a country that neither company had much manufacturing experience in and with a very compressed time line to boot! Factors that every business school in the world would caution you are a formula for failure. At the beginning of the JV agreement, only a 1.6L naturally aspirated engine had been contracted, BMW/Rover had not revealed their intention of creating a High Performance Derivative (for the Cooper S), or "HPD" as it would become known internally. They had expressed interest in developing a LOWER power derivative, maybe as a 1.4L variant with output possibly as low as 55kW for the "Mini One" for certain markets that placed severe taxation and insurance penalties on displacement and power. I believe that Greece and Portugal and a couple of other small markets were the concern. To support this effort, Chrysler Engineering worked on designing and modeling a 2V/cylinder design, but it was decided that an all new cylinder head variant would be too costly for such small volumes and this design was never built or even prototyped (some prototype components were built but a test engine was never completed).

Next I will get into the Technical design origins of the engine. I will follow up with other posts about the development, tech specs, unique design features and share the logic that made the engine what it is.

Mod's please let me know if I should just add to this post (it will get very long) or if I should start a new thread for Part 2.

 

Nice read, thanks for posting.

 

Thank you so much for writing this up and deciding to share your story, I am extraordinarily interested in the history and beginnings of this engine, please continue to write! I enjoy the details very much so and the writing style as well.

Patsum

 

What do you mean by B/C-segment vehicles? Is that just a categorization of cars according their engine displacement?

 

Hi Sevin,

Those are vehicle size definitions used mostly in Europe. But it has become more international in the last 20 years and is widely used in the US within the auto industry. In the USA, vehicle sizes in the past were defined by cabin volume and weight, but I cannot find a regulation from the EU with a precise segmentation definition.

http://www.autotrends.org/2010/05/30...-does-it-mean/

Unfortunately, there is no singular, clear definition of vehicle segments as you can see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classification

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Thanks a lot for this write-up. It's really fascinating!