If there's one thing someone could hold against Ford of Europe that is the absence of any noteworthy gasoline engines in its range other than the 2.5-liter turbocharged 5-cylinder unit. Ford is one of the last European manufacturers to take advantage of the new breakthroughs in turbocharging which allow smaller displacement petrol engines to combine high outputs with improved fuel economy and emissions without the reliability issues of the past. -Continued But that's about to change as Ford of Europe has announced a £70 million ($108 million or €87 million) investment programme at its Bridgend engine plant in Wales to build a next generation 1.6-litre Ecoboost, four-cylinder petrol engine.
To be launched in the European market in 2010, the new 1.6-litre Ecoboost engine featuring turbocharging and direct injection technology will be available with various outputs - a strategy that has been employed quite successfully by the VW Group for a while now. For example, VW's twin-turbocharged 1.4-liter TSI unit is offered in Europe and other countries in 140, 150, 160 and 170HP versions.
Ford supports that compared with current larger displacement petrol engines of similar power, the new 1.6-liter Ecoboost engines are expected to provide up to 20 per cent better fuel economy, 15 per cent lower CO2 emissions and greater performance.
The new 4-cylinder Ecoboost engines are expected to replace the current naturally aspirated 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0-liter petrol engines that are offered in the Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy MPVs.
