Control apparatus for a vehicle

A control apparatus for a vehicle including an internal combustion engine which includes a fuel injection valve for directly injecting fuel into a cylinder, a spark plug for igniting an air-fuel mixture, a crank angle sensor for detecting a crank angle, and an in-cylinder pressure sensor for detecting an in-cylinder pressure, and which is configured to perform ignition startup that executes fuel injection and ignition with respect to a cylinder that remains stopped in an expansion stroke and rotationally drives a crankshaft by means of a pressure of combustion that accompanies the fuel injection to thereby start up the internal combustion engine, the control apparatus comprising:

• an electric motor that is configured to rotationally drive the crankshaft;
• and
• a processor connected to the electric motor, wherein the processor is programmed to:
• determine an assist torque that the electric motor exerts to assist rotation of the crankshaft at a time of ignition startup, based on a local maximum value of an in-cylinder pressure detected by the in-cylinder pressure sensor at the time of ignition startup;
• and
• control the electric motor at the time of ignition startup based on the assist torque that is determined,
• wherein, prior to causing the electric motor to exert the assist torque that is determined, the controller controls the electric motor so as to exert a pre-assist torque that is lower than the assist torque.