Ford looking for a jump-start in Detroit

Like diesel engines, these engines use direct injection — that means the fuel sprays straight into the combustion chamber instead of into the intake port — and turbocharging. Unlike diesels, however, the engines will burn conventional gasoline, so consumers need not change their fueling habits, and unlike diesels these gas engines are quite affordable.

Diesel engines tend to be expensive both because of their sturdy design to withstand their powerful combustion and also because of the high cost of the pollution control systems they require.

“Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers in North America can expect to recoup their initial investment in a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months,” promised Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of  global product development.

To recoup the additional cost of investing in a diesel engine in North America will take an average of 7 1/2 years, Kuzak added, while the investment in a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup, given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs, he said.

Ford’s Mazda subsidiary already sells direct-injected turbocharged gasoline engines in its Mazdaspeed3, Mazdaspeed6 and CX-7 crossover SUV, but EcoBoost advances that technology and optimizes it for efficiency rather than power, according to Kuzak.

Ford will launch EcoBoost in 2009 and the company says it will sell half a million vehicles equipped with the technology in the next five years. The technology debuts as a 340-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 in the Lincoln MKS luxury sedan in 2009, but will also include four-cylinder engines.

One application of the four-cylinder could be in the next-generation Ford Explorer. The potential for that vehicle is shown in the Explorer American concept car, on show in Detroit, which could use a 275-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine along with a six-speed automatic transmission and reduced weight (through the use of lighter materials) to deliver a 30 percent fuel saving compared to today’s V-6 Explorer. Obviously, fuel savings compared to today’s eight-cylinder Explorer would be even greater.

The question is whether consumers, despite higher fuel prices and greater environmental concern, are truly prepared to accept smaller engines — even ones like the EcoBoost that promise to deliver the power they expect.

Car buyers had better get used to the idea of V6 engines being the biggest engine choice available, as smaller turbocharged motors will become the norm and not the exception, said DeLorenzo.

“The reality of the new fuel economy regulations hasn’t even begun to hit home with the American car-buying consumer yet,” he said. “They’ll be in for a shock.”

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