Mitsubishi Motors Corporation recently won the 1st Place Award in the Advanced Technology Section of AUTO TROPHY 98 for the GDI eco-engine that realizes major reductions in fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. Sponsored by Auto Zeitung, one of Germany's three top motoring magazines, this year marks the 11th time the Auto Trophy awards have been made. The presentation ceremony was held in Cologne, Germany on Wednesday April 22. The CARISMA passenger model powered by the award-winning GDI engine placed 2nd in the Non-German Car section of the awards.

Auto Zeitung magazine, published fortnightly with a circulation of 180,000, is one of Germany's three leading motoring magazines. The magazine has held the AUTO TROPHY awards every year since their inception in 1988. The AUTO TROPHY awards are presented in 12 sections, including the Advanced Technology and Non-German Car sections in which Mitsubishi Motors placed this year.

The AUTO TROPHY award means that Mitsubishi's GDI engine has now received the highest accolade for outstanding technological innovation from each of Germany's three top motoring magazines, in a European market where concern about the environment runs very high. The other two are The Paul Pietach Award 97, sponsored by Auto Motor & Sport (a monthly publication with a circulation of 520,000), and The Auto Innovation Award 98, sponsored by Auto Bild (a weekly publication with a circulation of around 870,000).

In the German market, where consumer awareness conscious about the environment is very high, the GDI engine is even more highly rated than in Japan as a revolutionary engine that realizes high power outputs and low fuel consumption (and therefore reduced CO₂ emissions).

Reasons cited by the judges in their selection of the GDI engine include the fact that it is a revolutionary eco-engine that achieves high power output and low fuel consumption (reduced CO₂ emissions), and the fact that it has been developed and marketed as a mass-production engine.

Mitsubishi Motors' sales in the European market have advanced significantly thanks to the GDI engine. Combined passenger car and trucks sales in March 1997 totaled 27,648 units - a new record for a single month, eclipsing the previous record of 25,662 units, set in June 1991. Sales of the CARISMA passenger model in this month were also a record at 9,012 units, topping the March 1997 mark of 8,239 units.

(*1)CARISMA: A compact passenger model produced by Mitsubishi Motors' European manufacturing arm Netherlands Car B.V. (NedCar), which is a joint-venture with Volvo Car Corporation and the Dutch state.

Major awards won to date by the Mitsubishi GDI Eco-engine