Toyota's new 8NR-FTS 1.2L direct-injection turbo engine will be available as an option for the partially redesigned Auris, which went on sale in Japan this week.

As with the other entries in Toyota’s new engine lineup, development of the 8NR-FTS is a culmination of Toyota’s years of hybrid and conventional powertrain development, including breakthroughs in combustion and loss-reduction technologies, according to the automaker.

The engine pairs a single-scroll turbocharger with a cylinder head that uses an integrated water-cooled exhaust manifold to optimize exhaust temperature. This enables adaptive intake cooling that is not affected by the engine’s thermal load. The result: responsive acceleration and maximum torque across a wide rpm range, according to the automaker.

Toyota said it has also improved combustion speed by creating a strong tumble flow (a vertically-rotating swirl) inside the cylinder. This, together with advanced D-4T technology, creates an ideal air-fuel mixture. In addition, continuous variable valve timing on the intake (VVT-iW) allows the engine to use the Atkinson cycle by adjusting valve timing according to load. These improvements combine to produce maximum thermal efficiency of 36 percent.