Ford's 1.6-Litre EcoBoost 'Hero' Engine in Huge Demand

BRENTWOOD, UNITED KINGDOM – June 29, 2011: Since the introduction of the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine in late 2010, Ford’s Bridgend Engine Plant in the UK has been working flat out to meet customer demand.

Available in the new Focus, Mondeo, C-MAX, Grand C-MAX, S-MAX and Galaxy, the versatile 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine has been a huge success thanks to its impressive performance, excellent fuel economy and low CO2 emissions.

Ford is already celebrating building 50,000 of the engines at Bridgend in South Wales.

“Demand for the EcoBoost engine is at record levels and the plant is fully focused on increasing capacity to ensure we can support the ever-growing customer demand,” says Kieran Cahill, Bridgend Plant Manager.

The Ford-built and designed engine can rightly claim to be a ‘hero’ engine for the company – offering customers a winning combination of performance and economy, and the versatility to power cars as different as the Focus and the Galaxy.

Despite its relatively small capacity, the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine delivers impressive performance. The Focus can reach 62mph from a standstill in 7.9 seconds, achieve a top speed of 138mph and return an excellent combined fuel consumption of 47.1mpg – helped by Auto-Start-Stop, which is standard fit on all Focus, C-MAX and Grand C-MAX 1.6-litre EcoBoost models.

Even in the larger Ford Galaxy, the 160PS engine achieves a combined 39.2mpg while still reaching 62mph in less than 10 seconds.

The low CO2 emissions are a key feature of the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine, achieved by some clever innovations such as Ford Auto-Start-Stop and the Active Grille Shutter.

Additional help comes from its state-of-the-art engine management system that monitors the Ti-VCT variable valve timing system, turbo boost, electronic throttle position, ignition timing, fuel injector pressure and delivery, and the knock sensor at a stunning rate of one million times per second.

With CO2 levels from 139g/km in the new Focus and 149g/km in the Mondeo, the 1.6-litre EcoBoost proves to be very affordable to run while still delivering a great drive – in short, more power and less fuel consumption.

“Ford EcoBoost engines actually provide customers with many of the benefits offered by the latest diesels, including impressive torque at low engine speeds and reduced CO2 emissions,” says Graham Hoare, executive director Powertrain Development, Ford of Europe. “At the same time, these engines retain the free-revving driving character and cost advantage of a petrol unit – effectively giving customers the best of both worlds.”