100,000,000 Motronic control units – engine management for all big vehicle manufacturers

Since 1979, Bosch has manufactured one Motronic unit
28 years ago, Bosch presented a new development which demonstrated the company’s power of innovation:
The Motronic was the first digital control unit in any car,
the first software-controlled and thus freely-programmable control unit for vehicles and the first system which combined injection and ignition.

At the time, nobody doubted that this conception was bound
to succeed. But it is certain that no one expected that the number of units manufactured in series production would
ever reach nine figures: yet this is precisely what happened on 11th January 2008, when the 100-millionth Motronic left the assembly line at the Bosch factory in Salzgitter.

The Motronic is thus No. 1 worldwide. It is the only engine management system which is used by all big vehicle manufacturers.

Success through performance
The Motronic has undergone constant further developments, resulting in more and more benefits – for motorists, for the environment and for manufacturers. And the more Motronic control units were used, the stronger the effects of these benefits could be felt.

Electronically-controlled engine functions have optimized
fuel combustion to such an extent that the engine generates maximum performance with minimum consumption and emissions. The average gasoline consumption of passenger cars in Europe has, for instance dropped from some eleven
to seven liters per 100 kilometers since 19759. To date, the Motronic has saved around 850 million metric tonnes of emissions.

At the same time, the Motronic provides convincing driving
fun and comfort. Instead of adapting the engine speed to the position of the accelerator pedal, like earlier systems, the Motronic controls the torque demanded by the driver. It takes account of all measured influences from the vehicle and its surroundings – for spontaneous and optimized engine performance, a rapid start and smooth running under all environmental conditions.

Many additional functions can be integrated into the Motronic
in order to further enhance driving comfort and reliability:
cruise control, knock control, diagnostic functions, maximum speed limitation for driving on winter tires, an immobilizer or the Sart/Stop system which helps to reduce the CO₂ emissions, to give just a few examples.

Entirely new concepts in the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption were introduced in 2000 with the DI-Motronic
for direct gasoline injection, the second system generation of which was brought out in 2005. This allows the performance
of an engine to be increased for the same cubic capacity. Or
to provide the same performance with an engine of lower
cubic capacity. This so-called downsizing results in lower
fuel consumption.

Direct gasoline injection with the DI-Motronic has, inciden-
tally, also celebrated triumphs in motor sport – five victories
in succession at Le Mans from 2001 to 2005.

A tried-and-proven basis for the future
In the future, too, we will be further developing the Motronic
in order to make it yet more versatile, offering even lower consumption and emissions, even more driving fun, more freedom to develop new engine concepts and the possibility
of integrating new innovative functions.

The latest examples are the Motronic versions used in bi-fuel vehicles or in hybrid vehicles. Their functions extend far beyond the control of gasoline engines to cover, for instance, the control of natural-gas and electrical drives. In addition, transmission control can also be integrated, making the Motronic the nerve center of an integrated powertrain control system which enables energy to be used even more economically and driving to become yet more comfortable.