The SGE engine made its first public appearance at the Frankfurt IAA in 2007 when it was shown fitted under the bonnet of the Fiat Panda Aria, a concept show car that was a special study on the use of recycled materials.

Fiat Powertrain Techoologies' tiny new 900cc, twin-cylinder SGE (Small Gasoline Engine) fitted with MultiAir technology will make its production debut at the 80th Geneva International Motor Show at the start of March in Fiat 500 ahead of becoming part of the supermini’s engine range in the summer. The SGE engine will be known as TwinAir. The confirmation of its Swiss debut for this efficient new powerplant comes from Automotive News Europe. The SGE engine made its first ever public appearance at the Frankfurt IAA in 2007 when it was shown in development format fitted under the bonnet of the Fiat Panda Aria, a concept show car that was a special study on the use of recycled materials.

The initial production version of TwinAir engine will be turbocharged and give out 85 bhp. When it arrives in the showrooms TwinAir will become the only two-cylinder engine to be on sale in Europe, a key development as Fiat seeks to keep breaking new ground in a relentless push focused on engine downsizing and improved efficiency. Fiat has been rated as the most efficient car maker in Europe for the past couple of years by leading automotive research body JATO Dynamics, its cars had an average efficiency of 129 g/km during the first half of last year, and Fiat hopes to continue this leadership further. Only Tata Motors worldwide (also an alliance partner of Fiat Group) produces a two-cylinder engine, with its 623cc unit rated at 33 bhp and fitted to the ultra low-cost Nano city car. TwinAir will also become the smallest petrol engine on sale in Europe as only Mercedes-Benz’s 799cc three-cylinder diesel unit, which is rated at 45 bhp for its application in the Smart city car, is of a smaller cubic capacity.

Fiat hasn’t released C02 emissions data for TwinAir as yet, but ANE quotes sources as saying that the engine will produce under 100 g/km. By way of comparison Fiat’s most efficient current production model is the 500 when fitted with the start-stop energy-saving system, but without MultiAir: it produces 113 g/km. The revolutionary new MultiAir technology, which debuted last autumn at the Frankfurt IAA and is now in production on several models including the new Fiat Punto EVO and the Alfa Romeo MiTo, is an electrically-operated hydraulic inlet system that improves emissions by around 10 percent, with a similar benefit in fuel economy.

While the TwinAir engine will debut in Geneva at the beginning of next month in turbocharged 85 bhp format, two further options of this 900cc bi-cylinder engine are on their way: another turbocharged unit, this time one that will boast a potent 105 bhp, and a normally-aspirated version with 65 bhp on tap. A CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) version of TwinAir will also be rolled out.

TwinAir will also be incorporated into the next-generation Fiat Panda and Lancia Ypsilon when they finally arrive in the showrooms next year, around two years later than was originally planned, although it won’t appear on the sub-A-segment mini-car, dubbed the “Topolino”, where it has been extensively tested over the last year-and-a-half, as cost-considerations have seen this project being put on hold for the moment. TwinAir will be manufactured at Fiat Powertrain’s Bielsko Biala plant in Poland, which serves the Tychy factory that produces the models that will use this unit: the 500 and Panda, while from late next year Ypsilon production will also be switched to the factory from Italy.