Ford to offer EcoBoost engines in 11 vehicles in 2012, up from 7 in 2011
26 January 2012
Ford will offer fuel-efficient EcoBoost engines in 11 vehicles in 2012, up from seven in 2011, tripling the production capacity of EcoBoost-equipped Ford vehicles. In 2011, Ford sold 127,883 EcoBoost-equipped vehicles.
The high-volume Escape compact utility vehicle and the Fusion sedan gain a 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine option. The full-size Taurus sedan becomes the first Ford vehicle to offer customers a choice between two EcoBoost engines. It will offer a 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder making an estimated 237 hp (178 kW), while the Taurus SHO sport sedan features a 365 hp (272 kW), twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6.
Additionally, the Focus ST arrives this year as a high-performance sport compact EcoBoost application. Additionally, Ford offers an EcoBoost-powered Police Interceptor for 2012—its first turbocharged law-enforcement vehicle offering.
31 MPG highway is only slightly better than the old 27.5 MPG CAFE standard. Ford really needs to improve its fuel economy, because the next oil-price-driven economic contraction is going to be brutal.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 26 January 2012 at 06:30 AM
E-Poet,
You have got to be kidding, that is a marginal increase of 12% that is nothing to sneeze at for a "mature" technology. Yes the next contraction could be brutal. But take a look at the LPG EcoLPI Ford Falcon in Australia. With Clean Energy working on their LPG stations nationwide ( from GCC a few days ago) one may ask will that alternative offer a true competitor to gasoline's dominance in the US.
Posted by: EGeek | 26 January 2012 at 07:00 AM
Many more diesel ICE, HEVs and PHEVs will be required to push average mpg above 36.
Posted by: HarveyD | 26 January 2012 at 07:12 AM
EGeek, I drive a car that's roughly Taurus-sized and I get 38-40 MPG highway. It's a 2004 model and the technology was several years old then. If Ford isn't getting efficiency that VW managed 10 years before, something is wrong at Ford.
Part of the problem is that these cars are horribly over-powered. 150 HP is more than enough for a standard Taurus, and the original SHO had a bit over 200.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 26 January 2012 at 07:51 AM
However, Ford will do much better in the second half of this year with the launch of the C Max Energy.
@EP
If we see another economic crisis it will be debt driven and it will cause the oil price to drop. Italy risk defaulting on its sovereign debt (the third largest in the world behind US and Japan) and that would cause a global recession. Italy defaulting will be far more catastrophic than Leman’s bankruptcy. Alternatively, if Iran closes the Hormus strait that could also create a global recession but it will only last until the strait is opened again and all of the world will send whatever they have of suited military assets to open that strait and be sure that Iran is weakened so much that they will not be able to close it again for many years to come.
I don’t see any energy crisis but the sovereign debt crisis is real and very dangerous.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 26 January 2012 at 07:58 AM
Poet,
Your VW is a good vehicle, however I don't have the numbers in front of me but I would gather the current Gen VW is some 800lbs heavier than the 80's variants and the current is heavier than yours ergo as everyone chases 5 star crash ratings. The Taurus based on the Volvo is 5 star if my memory is correct and is a larger vehicle than your VW. These ratings have cost everyone MPG numbers. We can have a discussion at another time on the advantages and disavantages of lightMy guess is you should be comparing the Focus to your VW. Overpowered? If you are advocating control of that two we difinitely part company, that is a another choice I do not want to surrender to Fedzilla....
Posted by: EGeek | 26 January 2012 at 11:01 AM
The Fusion hybrid gets 40 mpg and is mid sized. I think that is great fuel economy for a car that size. Ford seems to be doing well in bringing the cars along, it is all those F150 pickup trucks that will drive down the average.
Posted by: SJC | 26 January 2012 at 12:37 PM
Apply an extra $15K tax on F-150 (or equivalent gas guzzlers) and simultaneously give a $15K subsidy on F-150 PHEVs (or equivalent 40+ mpge PHEVs) and you could be on your way to reach CAFE 2035 within 5 years or so.
Very simple easy to manage program with very quick results.
Posted by: HarveyD | 26 January 2012 at 01:20 PM
The problem with that, Harvey, is that people are going to be reluctant to buy plug-in anything after the scare tactics rolled out in the aftermath of the crashed-rolled-and-allowed-to-sit-for-weeks Volt fire.
Until the systems have been field tested for several years, there will be legitimate questions about long-term durability as well. That drives resale value, which is always a concern.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 26 January 2012 at 03:50 PM
Those are valid points, but we have to start somewhere. CAFE sets the goals and the auto makers have to meet them. If people still want to buy large pickup trucks, even though they do not use them for work, they may have to pay more. When someone uses more fuel just getting around town, then we all have less and pay more
When there is a drought, we tell people not to over water their lawns wasting water, because it is a shared resource. The same principle applies with fuel for cars. There is only so much and once it is used it is gone forever, just smog remains.
Posted by: SJC | 27 January 2012 at 08:25 AM