The most important challenge facing car manufacturers today is to offer vehicles that deliver excellent fuel efficiency and superb performance while maintaining cleaner emissions and driving comfort. Growing awareness of global warming as a big threat to the environment, has added yet another dimension to this challenge. In order to prevent global warming, the reduction of CO2, one of the greenhouse gases, is called for. In order to achieve reduction of CO2, there is an immediate need to develop and promote widely, the use of an automotive power plant that emits significantly less CO2 than conventional petrol engines. At Mitsubishi Motors, we have approached this challenge by first asking ourselves what is it that we can do now, for the environment. Our answer was to develop the GDI engine, the world's first direct-injection petrol engine for mass production. Direct-injection petrol engines such as the GDI have gained widespread recognition as one of the most promising responses to the environmental question. This has sparked a rush among Japanese automobile manufacturers to develop similar engines, while reports in the media indicate that manufacturers around the world have also entered the race. Lowering CO2 emissions demands a global outlook. We cannot limit our focus to reducing emissions during use, but must incorporate this task into all stages of a vehicle's life cycle, from production through to retirement. Moreover, because the total volume of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere reflects the total emission levels of mass-produced vehicles, the technology to reduce emissions must be broadly applicable to a wide range of vehicles. One of the biggest merits of the GDI engine is that it does not necessitate major alterations to existing production processes, meaning production stage CO2 emissions are fundamentally the same as those from producing conventional petrol engines. Therefore, the reduction in fuel consumption achieved by the GDI engine will translate directly into the level of reduction in total CO2 output. In addition, because production costs are approximately the same as for a conventional petrol engine, the GDI engine offers outstanding potential as the new standard for mass-produced cars. As a consequence, the GDI engine is generally acknowledged as the most viable direct-injection petrol engine technology currently available. Mitsubishi Motors believes firmly that its GDI technology is the most promising low CO2 emission engine technology in existence and, since commencing mass production of the GDI Galant and Legnum in 1996, has rapidly expanded its line-up of GDI-equipped cars. In February 1998, total sales of Mitsubishi GDI-equipped vehicles surpassed 200,000 units. Reducing emissions of other harmful gases, such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC), is also essential to environmental preservation, and countries around the world are taking major efforts to toughen emission standards. The Central Advisory Committee of the Japanese Environmental Agency has resolved to lower harmful gas emission standards for vehicles to one-third of the current level by the year 2000. A goal that, if realised, will make Japan's standards among the strictest in the world. In Europe, authorities are considering a proposal to lower vehicle emission standards by 50%. While acknowledging the superior fuel efficiency of the lean-burning petrol direct-injection engine, critics have traditionally found fault with the fact that it does not achieve lower HC and NOx emissions, and thus would fall short of meeting increasingly strict global emission standards. Mitsubishi Motors realised early that the GDI engine's unique basic technologies, which facilitate precise yet flexible control of combustion, could also be utilised to lower other harmful emissions. We have completed the development of new technical features that will reduce the GDI engine's CO, HC and NOx emissions to levels more than 80% lower than current Japanese standards. What's more, we will achieve this without impairing the engine's high efficiency, and intend to incorporate this technology in a new and improved GDI engine from autumn 1998, scooping the proposed introduction of stricter domestic emission standards. These new technical features include: an earlier activation of the catalyst by Two-Stage Combustion. A feature made possible by the GDI's precise control over the formation of the air/fuel mixture, a reactive-type exhaust manifold, which maximises this effect and; exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), which takes advantage of the engine's highly stable combustion; and a revamped, lean NOx catalyst. By combining these features in a highly streamlined format that reflects global market trends, we will offer an improved GDI engine that meets global environmental requirements. We thus believe that the new GDI engine is the positive choice for the global environment, and plan to step up marketing efforts world-wide. In spring 1999, we expect to launch a GDI-equipped car in Europe that satisfies lower European emission standards proposed for the year 2000, while in autumn 1999 we will introduce a GDI-equipped car in North America that complies with U.S. Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards. We at Mitsubishi Motors are committed to promoting GDI technology world-wide and pledge to share these technologies widely with other manufacturers in the interest of preserving the global environment.