Toyota develops new 1.5-litre engine and hybrid system for multiple models

Toyota is developing an all-new 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a next-generation hybrid system that it says will improve fuel economy by more than 15 percent. The engine will be available in naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms, replacing Toyota's existing 1.5- and 1.8-litre units.

The new hardware is designed for a platform that can accommodate conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles, part of Toyota's strategy to spread development and manufacturing costs across a larger volume of vehicles.

A smaller, lighter hybrid system

Toyota's revamped hybrid system uses smaller electric motors, power control units and inverters that take up less space and weigh less than current hardware. The more compact components give engineers greater flexibility during development, while the promised fuel-economy gain of more than 15 percent is the figure that matters to buyers.

The efficiency improvements will also come from better thermal management, reduced mechanical friction and lower electrical losses, according to Toyota. Future models will adopt sleeker bodywork with lower drag coefficients to help achieve the targeted fuel-economy gains.

Engine sits lower for sleeker designs

The redesigned 1.5-litre engine sits lower in the vehicle, allowing for a lower hood and what Toyota describes as more dynamic vehicle proportions. Future models are expected to adopt sleeker designs and a lower stance as a result.

Toyota says that despite accommodating batteries, hybrids and plug-in hybrids will not compromise interior space.

Shared platform for hybrids, PHEVs and EVs

By using a common architecture for EVs, PHEVs and conventional hybrids, Toyota can spread development and manufacturing costs across a larger volume of vehicles, achieving economies of scale while giving factories more flexibility to adjust production to customer demand. The existing TNGA architecture was developed with the same mindset.

Fitting different powertrains into the same basic structure inevitably introduces packaging constraints, however. EVs benefit from a platform designed specifically around a battery pack and electric motors, while combustion-engine vehicles need room for an engine, transmission and associated hardware. Toyota says its smaller hybrid system will minimise these compromises, but whether it can match the packaging efficiency of a dedicated EV platform remains to be seen.

Which cars will get the new engine and hybrid system?

Toyota has not yet announced which specific models will receive the new 1.5-litre engine and hybrid system. The hardware is intended for future models across the range, but no model names or launch dates have been confirmed.

Toyota plans to sell the hardware to other manufacturers

The new engine and hybrid powertrain could eventually reach vehicles beyond Toyota's own lineup. The automaker plans to sell the hardware to other manufacturers, targeting €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in annual revenue from external powertrain sales by 2032, with deliveries potentially beginning as early as next year.

A larger turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, the G20E, is also part of Toyota's next-generation family, targeted at around 400 horsepower. Unlike the smaller engine, which is designed primarily for efficiency and electrification, the larger unit is intended for performance applications.

Toyota has already tested the G20E in a mid-engined GR Yaris prototype and a GR86-based race car, while a new mid-engined sports car believed to be the MR2 successor is also expected to use it.

Toyota sticks with combustion engines as rivals go electric

Toyota has repeatedly defended its decision to maintain a varied powertrain lineup, arguing that the transition to electric vehicles won't happen at the same pace everywhere. The automaker has acknowledged that many parts of the world still have people who cannot get by without gasoline-powered cars, citing limited charging infrastructure, longer recharge times and higher EV purchase prices as obstacles for many buyers.

Developing an entirely new gasoline engine and a more efficient hybrid system makes it clear Toyota isn't going all in on EVs anytime soon. While rivals continue to pour money into all-electric lineups, the world's largest automaker is doubling down on keeping its options open, sticking with combustion engines for the long haul.

This strategy may lack the simplicity of an all-electric future, but Toyota is betting flexibility will pay off. It is still investing in hydrogen fuel-cell technology, even as many other automakers scale back or abandon efforts in this area.

A 1928 Bentley 4.5 Litre Sports Tourer with its Vanden Plas coachwork still attached has been found in an abandoned property in the UK, according to Motor1. Colin Smith, who films explorations for his YouTube channel The Bearded Explorer, came across the car while filming the derelict building.

The discovery matters because the body style is scarce: Bentley built roughly 720 examples of the 4.5 Litre between 1927 and 1931, and Vanden Plas bodied only 204 of them, of which just 148 were finished as four-seat tourers like this one. More than 50 of those cars left the factory in 1928, placing this example in the earliest and smallest production window for the model.

Why an intact Vanden Plas body is the story

Pre-war Bentleys rarely survive with their original coachwork in this condition, since barn storage is hard on wood-framed bodies and thin steel panels. A Vanden Plas tourer that still carries its factory body and has never been through a fire is unusual even before the chassis numbers are checked.

Under the bonnet, the 4.5 Litre used a naturally aspirated 4.4-litre inline-four fed by two carburettors, rated at 110 horsepower in standard touring trim.

A registration check reportedly traced the car's factory finish to black, though whether the paint is original or a later repaint still needs verification. That question sits at the centre of any valuation, because matching-numbers cars with documented history trade in a different market from cars with gaps in the paperwork.

The price gap between similar cars

Recent auction results show how widely two outwardly similar Vanden Plas Bentleys can land. A 1928 example sold at Broad Arrow's Villa d'Este sale in May 2026 in roughly the mid $400,000 range, based on publicly available valuation summaries.

Chassis RL3427, carrying matching numbers and an unbroken ownership history, brought $1,105,000 at RM Sotheby's Monterey sale in 2021. An original-bodied Vanden Plas Semi-Le Mans Tourer sold for $2,750,000 at Gooding & Company's Amelia Island auction in 2013, lifted by its racing pedigree and factory-correct coachwork.

That spread runs from under half a million to nearly three million dollars for cars sharing a chassis and an engine. The lesson for anyone following this find is that buyers at this level pay for paperwork as much as sheet metal, and a barn find with no sale history starts well behind a car with a documented chain of ownership.

Supercharged money versus naturally aspirated money

The Bearded Explorer offered a blunt read on where this car fits: "This barn find is the naturally aspirated flavor, which still means seven figures is realistic once it's authenticated and restored, just not Blower money," they said, drawing a line between this car and Bentley's supercharged variants.

Whether Smith's discovery lands closer to those mid-$400,000 results or climbs toward seven figures depends on work nobody has done yet: confirming matching numbers, tracing the ownership record, and assessing how much of the original coachwork survives beneath years of neglect. Provenance research on cars at this level often takes longer than the restoration itself.

Nothing has been announced about a restoration, a sale or an asking price, so the car's next chapter is still open.