That’s right. A jury of 76 international motoring journalists decided the most effective and finest engine today is the Fiat 500′s two-cylinder TwinAir unit!

Usually the judges of such awards are quite wrong, but this time we expect they got it spot on. This TwinAir engine may be tiny and feature only two cylinder for a complete displacement of 875cc, however the greatest thing about this is that it doesn’t sacrifice fun for economy. Sure with only two cylinder it is vitally economical, nevertheless it’s also turbocharged and makes 85 PS. This busy little engine provides huge driving fun.

This engine was also victorious within the Best New Engine, Best Sub 1-litre, and Best Green Engine categories, even beating zero-emission pure electric vehicle engines from Nissan and Mitsubishi within the latter category.

Fiat Group snatches wins other award because the new 570bhp, 4.5-litre V8 engine of Ferrari 458 snatches both ‘Best Performance Engine’ and ‘Above 4-litre’category trophies.

Dean Slavnich, editor of Engine Technology International and co-chairman of the International engine of the Year Awards, says: “Fiat has now produced one of the most all-time great engines. Who would have thought that a two-cylinder unit may have won the International Engine of the Year title after we launched the Awards in 1999- Its triumph is a clear signal that less is more: people want low-emission, fuel-efficient yet powerful engines, and just two cylinders certainly seems to offer a comprehensive solution!”