Ford will equip an
increasing number of models with smaller, more-efficient powertrains. Ford will
add 450 jobs at Brook Park to build the 2-litre engines which the automaker has
been building in Valencia, Spain. Valencia will continue to build these engines
for Ford European-built vehicles as well as both Jaguar and Land Rover - see also recent item entitled Ricardo/JLR in I4 engine pact.
According to one US
analyst, the 2-litre EcoBoost turbocharged engine is close to the power of a V6
with much better fuel economy.
By 2016 US automakers have
to raise the average fuel economy of vehicles fleets sold in the US to 35.5
mile/gal; by 2025 the corporate average fuel economy, CAFÉ, is to 54.5mile/gal.
Last year, Ford produced
215,000 vehicles in North America with four-cylinder EcoBoost engines. Output
of these engines could rise to 390,000 by 2015 with the majority coming from the
Brook Park plant.
The
company said it expects to sell more than 500,000 US vehicles this year with
EcoBoost engines, up from 334,364 last year.
In
Europe, Ford’s 2-litre EcoBoost engines are used in the company’s Ford Focus,
Fusion, Escape, Explorer, Edge and Taurus as well as the new Lincoln MKZ sedan,
according to the company. The automaker’s Ohio engine plant already produces
the 3.5-litre V-6 EcoBoost used in the top-selling Ford F-150 pickup.
