Toyota partnered with motorsports specialist GRMN and come up with a turbocharged version of the Vitz (Yaris) at the recent Tokyo Auto Salon. Although the display is a one-off event, Toyota is said to be shifting its focus to downsized, turbocharged gasoline direct-injected (T-GDI) engines.

Although Toyota is the leading producer of hybrid engines, the market is small compared to the number of T-GDI motors out there. Take a look at Saturday's edition of The Straits Times and I'm sure you will find acronyms such as "TFSI", "TSI", "EcoBoost" and "TwinPower Turbo".

Although Toyota has used direct-injection and turbocharging technologies in certain models, other carmakers like Volkswagen have implemented them in their entire engine lineup. A small Japanese business daily paper reported that T-GDI engines could appear in domestic models such as the Crown as soon as 2013, and they could be marketed to China and Europe as well. Automotive analyst of Deutsche Bank Kurt Sanger told The Detroit Bureau, "We expect it (America) to be a potential market for such technology to further increase the competitiveness of (Toyota) products."

Other sources believe that the next-generation Toyota Corolla is likely the first all-new model to receive a T-GDI engine.