Engine Shifts Gas Mileage Into High Gear

A Chevrolet Metro with a specially modified diesel engine achieved an average fuel efficiency of 92 miles per gallon in a truncated test run Thursday. The car, prepared by Burbank-based BAT International Inc., used modified intake and exhaust manifolds, pistons and camshaft to increase the amount of fuel burned by the otherwise stock engine, a spokesman said. The test, at the California Speedway in Fontana, was to have been a 500-mile drive at 60 miles an hour, but an oil leak unrelated to BAT’s technology cut the average speed to 45 miles an hour and reduced the distance traveled to just 50 miles. The company said that a stock gasoline-engine Metro that ran alongside the BAT car got 49 miles to the gallon. The company has been trumpeting its mileage claims for months, and in the past week speculators had pushed its over-the-counter stock into overdrive. The price, which had languished at an average of 12 cents a share for months, rose to a high of 42 cents Wednesday before falling almost 25% Thursday to close at 32 cents. Stock volume, which had averaged less than 100,000 shares a day for the past year, soared to 5.1 million shares on Wednesday and Thursday.