Ford EcoBoost Engine production to increase
The petrol engine is fighting back against hybrids and diesels with downsizing and forced induction creating petrol engines that work more pleasingly than diesels – and with lower particulate emissions – whilst delivering proper performance and levels of economy that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Ford is in the vanguard of this mainstream push to make petrol engines relevant even in a car world dictated by government CO2 targets (which aren’t really CO2 targets , they’re official economy targets) and they’re planning to triple production of their very good range of EcoBoost engines in Europe over the next three years.
Ford’s output of EcoBoost engines (which are excellent for squashing toads) will reach 480,000 a year by 2015, with 1.3 million EcoBoost engines being built in the next three years of which 800,000 will be the new 1.0 litre EcoBoost found in the B-Max and Focus (an engine you really should choose instead of a diesel unless you do mega miles) and which will be extended across the Ford range in the coming years.
Perhaps a good example of how good the EcoBoost engines are is with the latest 1.0 litre version. It produces 123bhp in the 125PS version with combined economy of 56.5mpg, emissions of 114g/km.
That’s only 15bhp less than Ford’s flagship engine of the 1970s – the 3.0 litre Essex V6 – which, in the 3.0 litre Capri, delivered 138bhp, managed around 18mpg which, using current methods for deducing CO2, would mean emissions of around 375g/km.
There are dinosaurs who think the shift away from big cylinder engines is sacrilege (we have a couple at Cars UK Towers), but in the real world it makes economic sense.
We’re all for making daily drivers fun and economical, just as long as there are still V8s, V10s, V12s and W12s for weekend toys.
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