Report: Direct-Injection Likely For All Engines Says Hyundai Motor America’s Top Engineer

All future Hyundai products are likely to get direct injection technology, boosting both fuel economy and performance and allowing for smaller and lighter displacement engines to take the place of larger units.

The news comes from Hyundai Motor America’s top engineer John Juriga, who made the comments during a technical presentation at Hyundai’s North American Engineering facility in Michigan.

Juriga said the technology is likely to roll out across the product lineup over time, to V6 and even V8 engines. He likened it to the change from carburetors to fuel-injection and said that while new alternative-fuel engines will be coming, over the next 5 to 10 years the internal combustion engine will remain dominant and so there will be a focus on improving it.

When asked if future Hyundais will get a combination of direct injection and turbochargers, Juriga didn’t confirm anything but did say that the two technologies were, “made for each other.”

Hyundai has just announced its first direct-injection engine, a 200-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder that gets 35-mpg highway and will debut on the new 2011 Sonata (above).