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Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), a Japanese automaker has developed a new type of gasoline engine it believes could make some advanced diesel engines of today obsolete. This prospective innovative technology comes during a period when the emissions cheating scandal by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) undermined the diesel engine technology. A secret software was used by the German automaker to cheat tests on exhaust emissions on its diesel cars to which the company admitted. Millions of vehicles were affected worldwide which led to the exit of some of the company’s executives including its CEO.

Nissan engineers said that the new gasoline engine would be able to select the most favorable compression ratio for combustion using the variable compression technology which is a fundamental element between the efficiency and power trade-off in every gasoline-fueled engine. The new engine will have turbo-charged gasoline engine performance due to this technology. Also, the fuel economy and power of the engine will attain a level of efficiency and performance that the regular gasoline engine has strived to achieve and will match those of modern diesel and hybrid powertrains.

Next month’s Paris motor show will see the official unveiling of the new Variable Compression-Turbo (VC-T) powertrain. Nissan engineers said that it would be initially showcased in an Infiniti car to be unveiled next year. Nissan cars and perhaps Renault (RENA.PA), its alliance partner is expected to use the engine. The fuel economy of the 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder VC-T engine is 27 percent better than the 3.5-liter V6 engine it substitutes, with similar torque and power. According to Nissan, the new engine torque which is the total thrust that determines the acceleration of a car matches that of the diesel engine.

At the company’s technical and design center in Atsugi, Tokyo, Nissan engineers at a briefing said that compared to recent advanced turbocharged diesel engines, the new engine would be cheaper. They also stated that in certain markets, the nitrogen oxide (NOx) and other emissions rules would be met without needing expensive treatment systems.