Christian Von Koenigsegg Discusses Firm's Advanced Camless Engine

For those familiar with Christian Von Koenigsegg, you'll probably already know that the founder of the hypercar manufacturer bearing his name has been developing an engine without a camshaft for many years.

Earlier in the year, we got our first taste of the advanced engine through the FreeValve subsidiary which Koenigsegg created. Then, a few months later, the engine made its concept car debut in China with local automaker Qoros and now thanks to /Drive, we know how that engine came to fruition.

The Swedish marque started with the 1.6-liter turbocharged engine found within existing Qoros vehicles and re-engineered it to support its camless technology. What this means is that instead of a camshaft, the engine's values are opened by pneumatic value actuators and closed via springs or air pressure.

Each valve of the engine can be controlled and manipulated individually, providing a unique form of variable valve lift and simplifying the process of cylinder deactivation.

With the Qoros camless engine, Koenigsegg says torque is 47 per cent higher than the normal 1.6-liter and that horsepower has increased by a significant 45 per cent. What's more, fuel consumption is improved by 15 per cent, emissions are down by 35 per cent and it is also significantly lighter.

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