Ford’s Better Idea: Smaller but Technology-Laden Engines
January 07, 2008

By Bill Visnic

It’s far from new, and it’s not exactly unique, but Ford Motor Co. announces this week that within the next five years, it plans to fit more than a half-million vehicles annually with comparatively smaller engines boosted by turbochargers and fueled by injecting gasoline directly into the cylinders.

Ford’s turbocharged and direct-injected “EcoBoost” four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines are good for up to 20 percent better fuel economy vaguely compared with “larger displacement” engines, Ford promises, not to mention a 15 percent cut in CO2 emissions.

These “downsized” engines are the wave of the near future, and could spell the end of thirsty V8s and their increasing environmental-perception liabilities, judging by General Motors Corp.’s move to suspend its “premium” dual-overhead-cam V8 development program. Ford says the torque-enhanced performance delivered by EcoBoost enables a six-cylinder engine to mimic a V8 and a four-cylinder to replicate the performance of a larger six-cylinder power plant.

The EcoBoost combo first will appear in 2009 for the Lincoln MKS, using a 3.5-liter dual-cam V6. The MKS unveiled at last December’s Los Angeles auto show previewed EcoBoost under Ford’s original concept name of TwinForce.

At next week’s Detroit auto show, Ford will show the Explorer America concept, which presages Ford’s thinking about the next direction for the fading Explorer SUV. The unibody concept uses an EcoBoost-equipped 2.0-liter four-cylinder that pounds out a considerable 275 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque -– figures that approach some of the best of today’s high-performance V6s that are almost twice as large. And an EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6 for the Explorer America could make “about” 340 horsepower, Ford supposes, while saying the EcoBoost engines also could improve fuel economy by 20-30 percent versus the current V6 Explorer.

If that’s not enough promises for one powertrain concept, Ford says EcoBoost technology will offer a quicker payback for the consumer’s fuel-economy investment.

Heaving a grenade directly at hybrid-electric vehicles and diesel engines, Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of global product development, says, “Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers in North America can expect to recoup their initial investment in a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months. A diesel in North America will take an average of seven and a half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup -- given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs.”

Not surprisingly, Ford famously lags Asian automakers in hybrid-electric technology, and highline European manufacturers Audi AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG all are preparing an onslaught of diesel-powered models for launch in the U.S. this year, while Ford’s first U.S. diesel is not coming for nearly another year, and then initially only for its F-150 pickup.

Nor is Ford exactly at the forefront with EcoBoost: several automakers, such as Volkswagen AG and Ford’s own Mazda Motor Corp., have for several years been increasing the number of vehicles powered by smaller gasoline engines that combine turbocharging and direct injection, and BMW also is ramping up the rollout of gasoline engines leveraging the same power- and efficiency-boosting combination.

Photos by Ford

1 - Explorer America promotes a lighter alternative to today’s Explorer, as well as consumption-cutting EcoBoost power.

2- EcoBoost technology uses direct injection and turbocharging to pump up power and efficiency, meaning size and fuel-sucking cylinder count can be cut.

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