Ford launches all-ally 1.5-litre EcoBoost

Ford Motor has launched its latest EcoBoost engine – the new 1.5-litre gasoline unit which will be manufactured initially at Ford’s facility in Craiova, Romania. 

With the launch of the engine, Ford now has capacity to build 1.6 million EcoBoost engines annually. By the end of 2013 six plants across Europe, Asia and North America will be produce EcoBoost engines, triple the number in 2010.

Production of the four-cylinder 1.5-litre engine – the fifth member of the EcoBoost family – begins in Craiova later this month. Other manufacturing locations will be announced later.

Nissan UK tops plants, brands

In the UK, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK at Washington on Tyneside produced the most vehicles in 2012 with an output of 510,572 units. It also made the most of any one single brand – 310,837 of its Qashqai model. In June, the plant will begin building the second-generation Leaf electric car.

The figures produced in the SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2013 of the ‘top five’ UK producers and brands, showed that Jaguar Land Rover held second position with 305,467 vehicles built, though in model ranking its Evoque brand came fourth with 112,331 units built. A new nine-speed automatic gearbox from ZF will be fitted first to Evoque models before spreading through the range.

The third highest output was recorded by BMW’s Mini plant at Oxford with 207,530 units built. The Mini brand came second behind Quasqai.