Car makers all over the world are desperately trying to make the internal combustion engines work more efficiently in the hope to keep up with the new and tougher consumption and emission regulations. These efforts often result in some truly spectacular work, like what they Renault has done with their new Energy 160 dCi unit.

The new powertrain is a 1.6 liter four-cylinder onto which Renault has bolted two turbochargers. They wanted the engine to deliver the same power as a 2.0 liter, but with fuel efficiency of a small unit that it is. It makes 160hp and 380Nm of torque.

Twin-turbo systems are usually reserved only for large engines because a small one wouldn’t have enough low-end grunt to build up the boost without significant delay. Renault’s system, however, uses a clever technique to get round this issue. They use two sequential turbo-compressors; a small, low inertia turbo for low and mid-range revs, and a big, proper one for high rpm.

The launch of the new 1.6 Liter Twin Turbo Renault engine coincides with the beginning of the 2014 Formula 1 season in Bahrain. This is remarkable, because from this year, the F1 cars too use 1.6 liter turbo engines. The dCi unit is nothing like an F1 motor, but Renault can rightfully use the hype to their advantage.