Ford Europe announced today the debut of a new engine in the United Kingdom, which will be available on the Ford Focus range starting with February 2012. So why are they so proud of this engine? Well, because the new unit is 1.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine that, according to Ford, rivals the traditional 1.6-liter unit offered by many other carmakers.
The three cylinder EcoBoost engine comes with a 1.0-liter displacement and will be offered in two versions, an entry level 99-hp one and a more powerful version delivering 123 hp. According to Ford, a team of no less than 200 engineers based at Dunton and Dagenham worked on this project and the result is a powertrain that features unmatched fuel economy and CO2 emissions, which will be very important in the future, especially with the extremely strict Euro 6 pollution standard scheduled to be introduced in 2014.
“This is the third addition to our acclaimed EcoBoost engine family. Joining the 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre EcoBoost engines which span 150PS to 240PS, this 1.0-litre EcoBoost signals a new era of downsized, super frugal engines for the sub-130PS segment. During development our UK engineers focused on improving thermal efficiency and reducing friction of the engine’s internal moving parts, especially during warm-up,” said Graham Hoare, the Dunton based European executive powertrain director.
The basic version of the engine, the 99 hp one, achieves a fuel economy of 58.9 mpg (4.8 liters per 100 km) on the combined cycle and releases 109 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The more powerful version produces 123 hp and 170 Nm of maximum torque available between 1,400 and 4,500 rpm (this can be improved with the Overboost package up to 200 Nm) and achieves a fuel economy of 56.5 mpg (5.0 liters per 100 km) and CO2 emissions of 114 grams per km, Ford claiming that these values being unmatched by other cars in the segment with the same power output.
According to Mark Ovenden, the managing director for Great Britain: “Gone are the days when the number of cylinders dictates performance. This highly efficient, technically advanced powertrain is not only great fun to drive, but it delivers fuel economy improvements and ultra-low CO2 emissions which lead to real world cost savings for our customers.”
The starting price for the Ford Focus powered by the new engine will be £250 ($393) higher than the 125 hp 1.6-liter engine (currently priced at £13,995/$22,000) and the new powertrain will also be available later this year on the Ford B-Max, C-Max and Grand C-Max.