In the past few years, it is not uncommon for the car market to discuss the topic of three-cylinder engines, and the car companies that launched the three-cylinder engine have also clarified many times on the technical aspects, but they still cannot alleviate the problem of many consumers "talking about three-color change", and car companies have no choice but to make compromises on this one after another.
How powerful is the three-cylinder machine to sales? Almost an unprecedented large-scale "boycott" of consumers uniting together, so that the American, Japanese, and European brands that have developed three-cylinder engines in recent years have suffered a lot of losses in the Chinese auto market.
To take the most obvious example, the evergreen model of the domestic compact SUV , Nissan X-Trail, announced a replacement in the middle of last year, regardless of the appearance of the interior, technology configuration, the new four-wheel drive system compared with the previous generation of models have significant progress, but because of the 1.5T three-cylinder engine, sales plummeted.
The monthly sales of X-Trail before the replacement have always exceeded 10,000, but the sales volume of the replacement model in the first month of the listing has fallen to more than 4,000 units, down more than 80% year-on-year, which shows that the Chinese people talk about tricolor changes are not empty talk.
X-Trail sales
Since consumers are so reluctant to accept the "small three", why should car companies compete to develop three-cylinder engines and replace the three-cylinder engine for the brand's extremely important models? Is it deliberately trying to get along with consumers?
Of course not, the reason why the United States, Japan, and Europe are trying to sell the three-cylinder machine shows that there must be a reason for its existence, not for nothing.
First, in the face of increasingly stringent emission regulations, the adoption of three-cylinder engines is one of the most economical solutions for transitioning from fuel vehicles to new energy sources.
From a technical point of view, the three-cylinder machine is one cylinder less than the conventional four-cylinder machine, the volume becomes smaller, the power density becomes larger, and the pump gas loss is also smaller. In other words, the combustion efficiency of fuel becomes higher, less waste, more energy is used to output and drive the wheels, and naturally it can achieve better economy.
For example, the ford focus three-cylinder and four-cylinder fuel consumption comparison, you can give you a reference. And I think the fuel consumption performance of Ford's three-cylinder engine, even in 2022, is still a very dominant level.
Of course, some people may question that the three-cylinder machine is missing a cylinder, the displacement is generally small, and it can naturally reduce fuel consumption, but the power is certainly not as good as the four-cylinder machine, right?
To some extent, you can say so, but not so absolutely. In view of the lack of power of the three-cylinder engine, the new models developed by the United States, Europe and Japan in recent years have made breakthroughs to varying degrees. In particular, compared with the four-cylinder engine, the three-cylinder technical path selection, exhaust interference and turbine hysteresis problems have been effectively improved, so its low speed and low torque at the start and starting acceleration are even better than many four-cylinder engines.
Of course, we cannot deny that the three-cylinder engine is still slightly weak compared to the four-cylinder machine in terms of extreme speed and medium and high speed, but it has little impact on daily transportation.
So, since the fuel consumption has an advantage, the power is not a big problem, consumers for the three-cylinder machine can not pass the hurdle is left with the "three cylinder shake" metaphysics?
The reason why many people have the inherent impression that the three-cylinder engine is very shaky is because the three-cylinder models of the past era have indeed failed to do a good job of vibration and sound insulation, which is also a legacy of "long history".
The three-cylinder engine is not a new thing, and it has often appeared in some cheap and low-end automotive products before. In order to reduce the cost as much as possible, the model equipped with the three-cylinder engine is often quite bad in experience and durability, and over time, people have an indelible impression of the previous three-cylinder machines, and a three-cylinder car of Xiali was widely criticized for the jitter problem.
At the same time, because the three cylinders are odd cylinders, structurally speaking, there will be a phenomenon of one cylinder running alone, and the conditions for natural output cannot be balanced like the four-cylinder machine. However, in recent years, car companies on the problem of three-cylinder jitter, in the technology research and development can be said to be painstaking, many car companies developed the new three-cylinder machine has been greatly improved, the following are better representatives.
For example, the new generation of general-purpose Ecotec engines, in order to obtain a good balance effect, the use of a balance shaft with a shock absorber and a pendulum type double mass flywheel and other black technology, the use of eccentric heavy block generated by the reverse vibration force to achieve the output balance of the three cylinders.
The 1.0T Ecoboost three-cylinder engine launched by Ford in recent years, although it has not worked the design of the balance shaft, it has also simplified the structure of the flywheel and the belt very cleverly, and at the same time reduced the vibration effect of the eccentric flywheel, which also effectively reduced the jitter of the three cylinders.
Then again, since today's three-cylinder engine is not as shaky as in the past, it has been well controlled, why do consumers still have to boycott the three-cylinder engine?
On this point, I think consumers are reluctant to buy three-cylinder engines may still have face problems. Not to mention the three-cylinder, many older consumers will think of cheap, low-end models such as Xiali. Even for luxury brands such as BMW, the 1 Series, X1 and previous generations of 3 Series equipped with three-cylinder engines are often the entry-level beggar version. And these inherent low-end impressions, coupled with this resistance, will indeed be reflected in consumer behavior.
So, can the disease of the three-cylinder machine be cured? The answer is yes, scraping the bone to cure the poison can cure the disease. Since last year, in order to save the decline in sales, many car companies have replaced the models with three-cylinder engines back to four-cylinder machines, and consumers have almost immediately given positive feedback.
For example, the Yinglang, which was replaced by a four-cylinder cylinder, instantly returned to more than 20,000 units in monthly sales, and it is still the top beam and column model of the joint venture family car.
For example, the sales of the previous generation of Civic's three-cylinder models accounted for only 8%, while the new generation of models cancelled the 1.0T three-cylinder version, and the whole series was equipped with a 1.5T engine, which helped the sales of the car series directly double in the first month of the new car's listing, from more than 7,000 units before the replacement to 14,700 units.
For example, the recent rumors of the mid-term revamped Ford Focus, which is about to return to the 1.5T four-cylinder engine, has once again become the focus of the car market after several years of silence.
Although from a rational and technical point of view, I think that today's three-cylinder engine level is basically able to achieve the tranquility of the four-cylinder engine, of course, there is a slightly more price behind this, but in exchange for better fuel economy, it can also meet the current stringent emission regulations. But on the question of "talking about tricolor change", since consumers have already answered with their wallet votes, it does not make much sense to discuss it in depth. I just want to say to the car companies that have swallowed the bitter fruit of the three cylinders in recent years: the world laughs at me for being too crazy, and I laugh at the world's inability to see through it.
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