In an aggressive move, Ford has revealed plans to more than triple the annual production of vehicles fitted with EcoBoost petrol engines in Europe from 141,000 units in 2011 to around 480,000 by 2015.
Ford said that more than 300,000 of those cars will be equipped with its new 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost engine that debuted on the B-MAX small MPV, and which is currently available in two states of tune with outputs of 99hp (100PS) and 118hp (120PS).
The announcement coincides with the start of production of the 1.0-litre EcoBoost at Ford’s new plant in Craiova, Romania.
The Blue Oval said that in addition to the European sales, it also predicts to produce a further 800,000 EcoBoost engines for markets outside Europe during 2015, up from 90,000 in 2011.
“Whether it’s the 125PS 1.0-litre version in the Focus or the high-performance 250PS 2.0-litre version in the upcoming Focus ST, EcoBoost delivers a combination of fuel efficiency and performance that would have seemed impossible in a petrol engine just a few years ago,” said Barb Samardzich, vice president of Product Development for Ford of Europe.
“It provides all the performance, refinement and torque customers want with the fuel consumption of smaller engines,” he added.
Ford debuted its turbocharged petrol engines under the EcoBoost moniker in Europe in late 2010 with the 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter turbocharged units.
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