Less than a year after starting production at its Rottweil plant, MAHLE has delivered its one-millionth steel piston to vehicle manufacturer Renault. Renault’s 1.5 and 1.6-litre diesel engines are the first diesel units for passenger cars worldwide to come equipped with these steel pistons.

MAHLE’s MONOTHERM pistons reduce friction in the engine while improving thermodynamics, thus  boosting fuel efficiency by some three per cent. Prior to their introduction in mass-produced vehicles, MAHLE steel pistons were already being successfully deployed on the racetrack, in events such as the Le Mans 24-hour race. The steel pistons recently received Renault’s award for “Outstanding Innovation Performance in 2014”.

Fully automatic assembly lines installed for the new product at the Rottweil plant started production late last year. Production is also set to commence at another hi-tech plant in Izmir in Turkey before the end of the year. This will allow for over two million MAHLE’s MONOTHERM steel pistons to roll off the production lines in 2016.