FPJ BUSINESS DESK Car manufacturers are now investing large sums of money towards research for developing smaller engines that offer excellent economy, allied with reasonable performance.
Like a lot of other carmakers, Ford has also been working on smaller engines and the company recently revealed the smallest engine its ever engineered – an all- new three- cylinder, 1.0- litre alt145 Eco- Boostalt146 petrol unit, which will be used on Fords small cars worldwide.
The company claims this three- cylinder engine will offer driving performance thats comparable to a four- cylinder engine, but with much better fuel economy.
alt145 In the last five years, we have made a record investment in new powertrains and fuel- saving technologies.
Now, we have the freshest powertrain lineup in the industry, and there is plenty more coming,alt146 says Derrick Kuzak, Group Vice President – Global Product Development, Ford. He also said that the new 1.0- litre engine has been engineered at Fords technical centre in Dunton, in the UK, and the goal was to build a technically advanced, super- efficient three- cylinder that would be big on fuel economy and low on emissions, and which would not make any compromises with driving performance.
alt145 The new engine introduces many new technologies that could someday be part of the DNA of many other future Ford engines,alt146 adds Joe Bakaj, Vice President – Global Powertrain Engineering, Ford.
Ford claims that the new three- cylinder engine will give consumers alt145 hybrid- likealt146 fuel economy but at a more affordable price. The company intends to use this engine globally, on many of its small cars. Given the engines positioning and given the fact that fuel- efficiency is a very important factor for most car buyers in India, we believe Ford will also launch this alt145 EcoBoostalt146 engine in the Indian market very soon. The most likely candidate for this engine would, of course, be the Figo hatchback, which is already doing reasonably well in the country. A smaller, more fuel- efficient engine may well provide a significant boost to the Figos volumes in India.
So what exactly is it that allows Fords new small, three- cylinder engine to provide excellent fuel economy as well as relatively high levels of power and performance? Well, its a range of technologies that are all a part of the alt145 EcoBoostalt146 package.
The new engine gets things like an advanced split cooling system, an exhaust manifold cast into the cylinder head ( which saves weight and also allows the engine to run in a wider rev- range with the optimum fuel- to- air ratio), turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing ( Ti- VCT). All these technologies together boost the engines volumetric efficiency, help with the power delivery and also boost its fuel- efficiency. alt145 No ones ever built a three- cylinder engine quite like this. Not only is it one of the most technically advanced and efficient engines wealt146ve ever designed, but it will introduce a number of new technologies to the Ford engine lineup,alt146 says Bakaj. alt145 Drivers are going to like the new 1.0- liter EcoBoost engine – it will deliver great low- speed responsiveness, power, torque and smoothness,alt146 he adds.
Ford, which has earlier replaced V8 and V6 engines with four- cylinder units on many of its bigger vehicles, will now look at replacing some fourcylinder engines with this new three- cylinder Eco- Boost engine. alt145 The new 1.0- litre EcoBoost engine will come in at the lower end of the global range and will take the place of four- cylinder engines, with no loss of performance or refinement. Above all, drivers win because
