Toyota has halted development of its FV4000-2TC petrol engine, five years after the project began, blaming the powerplant's lack of "commercial viability" as the reason behind the 19 March announcement.
The project was set up in January 1993 by the Tokyo, Japan-based car manufacturer and Hamilton Standard in the USA to evaluate the possibility of developing a new general aviation powerplant from an engine originally manufactured for cars. The FV4000, a modified variant of the Toyota Lexus 4litre twin turbo Vee-8 car engine, was benchtested "beyond US Federal Aviation Administration requirements," says Toyota.
Hamilton Standard was awarded type certification for the FV4000, which was fitted with one of the US company's full authority digital engine control units, in December 1995, followed by production certification in 1996. "After evaluating the market, we decided that putting the engine into production could not be commercially justified," says Toyota. The car manufacturer is exploring other engine projects, but would not be drawn on a report that it is developing a diesel powerplant.
Source: Flight International
