New material development: A powder metal material infused with copper for valve seat inserts was prepared for series production in 2006 for CNG-type passenger car engines. With a wear- and heat-resistant matrix and a wear-resistant intermetallic phase, this material offers significant advantages under extreme operating conditions.

Production and process technology: In 2006, we were able to introduce a number of improvements. For example, a roller-burnishing process with improved manufacturing quality was developed for pressure rolling the high-performance fillet radius on the flanges of cylinder liners.

New telemetry system: The newly introduced system allows component temperatures in the operating engine in the range above 450 °C to be determined reproducibly with great precision. These temperatures occur in the combustion chamber of the MONOTHERM^® steel pistons, which are subject to high loads.

Transmission for the MAHLE SAE engine	Valve lift switch or shut-off of roller-type cam followers in the valve train for cylinder deactivation

The potential of the MONOTHERM^® piston, which has been in series production for several years, has by no means been fully exploited. We anticipate that the ongoing development of this piston type will offer us an excellent opportunity to meet the requirements of new emission regulations, such as EU5 or US10. In the area of cylinder components, we have further expanded our systems approach for the development of assemblies. We gained important knowledge about the systems properties of piston rings and cylinder liners for heavy commercial vehicle engines. In order to lower the weight of the power cell components, we extended the simulation to all relevant components, including the connecting rod. In the future, the ongoing development of coating systems for a variety of components subject to wear will become increasingly important for our customers. In connection with fully variable valve train adjustment concepts, we are testing switchable rollertype cam followers. The CamInCam^® camshaft systems have now been put into series production. They enable variable valve timing, even with a single camshaft in the engine. An additional valve lift setting feature will be the next modular step in this direction. Our fast-switching air impulse valve can be used as a system for the dethrottling of gasoline engines. This allows dethrottling without interfering with the valve train. Advantages can also be created in terms of cold start characteristics and internal exhaust gas recirculation, as well as support for supercharging systems. We are intensively researching the future low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation design, so that high exhaust gas recirculation rates can be achieved with an innovative product, even under unfavorable pressure conditions.