Gunnar Herrmann, vehicle line director of Ford Europe’s mid-sized cars, said at the Frankfurt show a non-turbo version of the new one-litre EcoBoost engine is under development, with a target output of between 75 and 80bhp. The Fiesta and Ka would seem the most likely cars to use it.
Refinement has been made by developing new engine mounts which reduce noise, vibration and harshness from the one-litre Ecoboost range, he said, and by carefully tuning its sound characteristics.
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Ford’s efforts to drive down CO2 emissions also resulted in new Econetic versions of the Fiesta and Focus at Frankfurt. Powered by a 1.6-litre diesel engine and aided by stop-start, active aerodynamics and brake energy recovery, the CO2 of the Fiesta is down to 87g/km -slightly above the record low for a combustion-engined vehicle of 85g/km set by the new diesel Kia Rio – and 89g/km for the Focus.
Herrmann was especially proud of the 89g/km with the Focus, and said it resulted from lots of detailed work, particularly on the underbody shielding to reduce drag and the tuning of the electric power steering.
To prove that Ford hasn’t entirely lost its sense of fun, there was also a concept for a Fiesta ST that would have a 177bhp version of the 1.6-litre Ecoboost engine, and a production-ready Focus ST that featured a 235bhp two-litre Ecoboost engine.
Both had American writer slavering and noting that their versions would have to be five-door hatchbacks as the three-door Fiesta and five-door Focus wagon shown at Frankfurt are not available in the US.
