(May 14, 2012) — Ford is planning to more than triple the production of its vehicles equipped with fuel-efficient and powerful EcoBoost gas engines in Europe to approximately 480,000 a year by 2015, from 141,000 in 2011. More than 135,000 of which will be vehicles equipped with the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine, manufactured in Bridgend, Wales.

Ford will produce more than 1.3 million EcoBoost engines to go into European vehicles over the period 2012-2015: more than 800,000 of which are expected to be the new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine, produced at Ford’s new plant in Craiova, Romania and in Cologne, Germany.

During this same period around 400,000 1.6-liter EcoBoost engines will be produced at Bridgend for European vehicles and production will total of over 1 million engines for all export markets, including Europe.

The production expansion coincides with an increase in the availability of EcoBoost engines across the model line-up in the European Ford range. The number of Ford models available with EcoBoost engines will double from five to 10 by 2015 when EcoBoost engines will power more than half of all Ford of Europe petrol-engined cars.



“Our plans to expand EcoBoost availability are aggressive, but we believe as customers experience this engine family, they’ll understand why,” said Sherif Marakby, powertrain director, Ford of Europe. “We’re at the cutting edge of innovation and the 1.0-liter engine, for example, cannot be matched for its balance of efficiency, power and refinement.”

Ford’s high-tech engine plant in Bridgend has produced over 120,000 1.6-liter EcoBoost engines since 2010 and is set to produce over 230,000 in 2012, which is over 30 per cent of the plant’s annual total production forecast of 780,000.  The export of this UK-built powertrain to the US and Mexico began this year.  It powers Ford Focus, C-MAX and Grand C-MAX, Mondeo and S-MAX and Galaxy models sold in the UK and Europe.

EcoBoost engine technology was developed by UK powertrain engineers located at the Ford Dunton Technical Centre and Ford Dagenham engine plant in Essex.

“Whether it’s the 125 PS 1.0-liter engine in the Focus or the high-performance 250 PS 2.0-liter 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, Product Development, Ford of Europe. “It provides all the performance, refinement and torque customers want with the fuel consumption of smaller engines.”

This year, the new three-cylinder, 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine was introduced in the Focus to wide acclaim from the media for best-in-class fuel efficiency and surprising performance and refinement. The new engine will be offered later this year in the C-MAX and new B-MAX, and then several other Ford vehicles in the future.

Production of 1.0-liter EcoBoost engines began at Ford’s engine plant in Cologne in November 2011. The 1.6-liter variant is produced at Bridgend, in Wales, while the 2.0-liter EcoBoost engines are produced in Valencia, Spain.