TORRANCE, Calif. — Honeywell has said it expects to see a significant increase in demand for turbocharged vehicles in the U.S. as a result of the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) standards that were recently announced. The Federal rules will effectively increase the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 35.5 mpg by 2016. As a result, Honeywell expects the number of new, turbocharged cars sold in the U.S. to grow from 5 percent today to as much as 25 percent in the next five years.

Honeywell will be launching 15 new turbocharger technologies and boosting more than 100 new engine platforms in 2010 for automakers across the globe, including diesel and gasoline passenger cars, on-highway trucks and off-highway vehicles. Honeywell already is working with leading automakers to provide more efficient turbocharged engines in the U.S. including the launch of Ford’s first EcoBoost vehicle last year and GM’s upcoming launch of its Chevrolet Cruze.

"Turbocharging will be among the winning technologies over the next few years and we expect to see widespread adoption sooner rather than later here in the U.S.," said Alex Ismail, president and CEO of Honeywell Transportation Systems. "Turbos represent an effective, reliable and affordable path to increased fuel efficiency and we look forward to continuing to partner with global automakers on future platforms to help meet these new standards."

In the new regulations announced yesterday, the EPA and the DOT specifically referenced that turbocharging will "play an important role in achieving the fuel economy improvements" necessary to meet the 2016 standards. Turbochargers enable auto manufacturers to reduce the size of an engine by 25 to 30 percent, improving fuel efficiency and reducing harmful emissions without compromising performance.