Pentastar V-6 Set To Roll Out Across Broad Range Of New Chrysler Vehicles

Improved fuel efficiency, more power, and reduced emissions, all hallmarks of the new Pentastar V-6 engine -- the most advanced six cylinder engine ever produced by Chrysler -- will soon be available across 13 models and will eventually replace seven different V-6 engines over the next three years.  By 2014, the new V-6 is expected to account for more than a third of the powertrains in the vehicle line-up and substantially contribute to an overall corporate fuel efficiency improvement of more than 25 percent.

"The Pentastar engine is suited to meet the requirements for a full range of vehicle applications in terms of power and fuel efficiency including passenger cars, mini-vans, and sport utilities," explained Bob Lee, Vice President of Engine Engineering for Chrysler Group LLC. "It has been designed for today and many years to come. Already, we are looking forward to adapting future technologies as they become available to the Pentastar V-6 for even more fuel efficiency and performance."

Compact and lightweight, Pentastar V-6 will be used in front-, rear- and all-wheel-drive models. Already standard on the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, the V-6 will gradually phase out seven V6 legacy engines ranging from 2.7 liters up to 4.0 liters in the current product portfolio. Overall, the new Pentastar will enable Chrysler Powertrain to reduce major engine components from 189 parts to just 32, greatly simplifying the build process and improving quality. Significant cost savings also are realized with purchasing efficiencies and a reduction in limited, high piece cost parts.

Some parts, including the exhaust manifolds, will completely disappear by virtue of being cast directly into the cylinder head. Today, the engine line-up features 32 different left and right exhaust manifolds. That will drop to zero with the new Pentastar V-6.

Upper and lower intake assembles, which accounted for 21 and 11 different parts numbers (respectively) have been reduced to two upper and lower assemblies. Camshaft variations will drop from 14 to four and just two fuel rails will be required rather than the current 14.

"We feel the new Pentastar V-6 represents the best technology to deliver exceptional refinement, fuel economy, and performance," Lee said. "This engine allows increased flexibility to apply new technologies while providing significant cost savings to the company by substituting the state-of-the-art Pentastar for previous V-6 engines."