Patent ID: 7904230

Claim:
A control apparatus for a vehicle mounted with an internal combustion engine and a transmission that continuously changes a transmission speed of a motive power of the internal combustion engine and transmits the motive power to driving wheels, wherein one of a plurality of operation curves that are set on a basis of a state of the internal combustion engine on a coordinate plane corresponding to torque and rotational speed and that define torque and rotational speed for achieving a required output of the internal combustion engine is selected as a first operation curve, the internal combustion engine is operationally controlled along the selected first operation curve, a second operation curve corresponding to the internal combustion engine is set in advance on the coordinate plane, and the second operation curve is an operation curve that is set such that fuel consumption is lower when the internal combustion engine is operated along the second operation curve than when the internal combustion engine is operated along any of the plurality of the operation curves, comprising: a detection portion that detects a required output of the internal combustion engine; an acquisition portion that acquires an ignition timing of the internal combustion engine; a selection portion that selects one of the plurality of the operation curves as the first operation curve such that the first operation curve approaches the second operation curve as the acquired ignition timing is retarded with respect to a set ignition timing; a decision portion that decides a target power of the internal combustion engine on a basis of the detected required output and the first operation curve; and a control portion that controls the internal combustion engine on a basis of the decided target power.