DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE ENGINE STARTING

When a direct injection engine 12 is started from a TDC engine stop state, in which a first cylinder K1 of a plurality of cylinders is in an expansion stroke with a second cylinder K2 next to the first cylinder K1 in an ignition order located at a compression TDC, an electronic control device 70 starts rotation of the direct injection engine 12 and directly injects fuel into the second cylinder K2 and ignites the fuel while a piston 110 of the second cylinder K2 is moving away from the compression TDC toward a bottom dead center in a first expansion stroke in the second cylinder K2 after the start of the rotation. Therefore, at the beginning of the rotation start when the direct injection engine 12 is started, a negative pressure is reduced in the second cylinder K2 entering the expansion stroke from the compression TDC and a torque rotating the direct injection engine 12 is generated at the same time by an explosion in the second cylinder K2. Therefore, an engine rotation speed NE can rapidly be raised to ensure good startability of the direct injection engine 12.