(26 May 04)

The 56-member jury of motoring journalists from 24 countries - Argentina and Australia via Egypt and New Zealand to the UK and USA - has voted overwhelmingly in favour of Japanese and German products in the International Engine of the Year Awards, and was particularly keen, once again, on hybrid technology. A number of the "engine" awards actually went to petrol/electric powertrains.

Toyota's latest Hybrid Synergy Drive as used in the Prius won the overall award as well as two of the subsidiary prizes, including Best New Engine of 2004. Other hybrids on the class winners list were the Integrated Motor Assist systems in the Honda Insight and Civic.

Petrol engines given the nod in their respective categories were the Mercedes-Benz AMG 65 V12, the Honda S2000, the BMW 2.5-litre and 3.2-litre (from the M3), the Volkswagen five-litre V10 turbo diesel fitted to the Touareg and Phaeton, and the Mazda rotary from the RX-8.

In the six-year history of the competition, organised by the independent UK & International Press Automotive Magazines group, BMW still heads the list of winners with 20 awards, and Volkswagen is second with 19.

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