Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinjlm
JhonnyGTR,
Thanks for the photo-walk down memory lane. About the last two pics...I know how “thrilled” everyone is about the similar blackout look of the Charger and SS grills, but there is a reason for that. In order to meet EPA regs, engines have to operate a lot more efficiently. For a whole host of reasons, that by and large means “take in a lot more air”. Toyota started down this path a little earlier than others, followed soon by Mazda. Both have engines with better than 40% thermal efficiency. That’s the big catch phrase in engine development these days. Thermal efficiency. For decades, gasoline engines have tended to be in the mid to high 20%s for thermal efficiency. Diesels around low 40s.
Now gasoline engines are borrowing technologies from Diesel engines (direct injection being the most obvious) but are also approaching diesel levels of compression ratio and attempting to get close to diesel levels of thermal efficiency. Once you go down the path of needing a lot more air, you commit to openings like the mouth of a baleen whale. Look at the Lexus (Toyota) spindle grills, the Mazda 3 fascia, and now the grill areas of the Charger, Camaro, and upcoming GT500. All similar.
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Por cierto, Thanks for that information, it's really appreciated and make more sense all of this now.
On a side note: I though that the first car that use a Black front bar was the 2011 Dodge charger SRT