The 1.0 litre EcoBoost petrol engine of Ford Motor Company, the well appreciated American auto maker, has been nominated with the title of 2013 International Engine of the Year. It must be noted that this engine has already brought a number of titles to the company, excluding this award. Interestingly, the same engine will be offered in the Indian auto market, once the Ford's compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) EcoSport make its debut in the Indian auto market. Sources close to the development stated that EcoSport will be offered to the Indian buyers somewhere in June 2013, amid great buzz.
Speaking on this achievement, the Vice President of Ford, Global Powertrain, Joe Bakaj was quoted as saying, “With a technology as mature as the internal combustion engine, it’s very rare to achieve a true breakthrough, but that is exactly what the team accomplished with this engine. You have to drive it to believe a small three-cylinder engine can deliver such performance and fuel economy.”
From 35 countries, a panel of 87 auto journalists judged the models on several parameters like drivability, performance, refinement, economy and the application of cutting edge engine technology. Interestingly, Ford happens to be one of the three auto makers, which recorded back-to-back victories in the history of 1.5 decades of the awards. The innovative 1 litre EcoBoost engine has been designed at American auto maker's research and development centres in Aachen and Merkenich, Germany, and Dunton, UK. However, it is manufactured in Cologne and Craiova, Romania.
European arm of Ford is looking ahead to three-fold its yearly production potential of EcoBoost engines equipped models to around 480,000 by the end of 2015 from 141,000 in 2011. The auto maker is anticipating that over 300,000 of those models will be assimilated with 1 litre EcoBoost engine. In Europe, this EcoBoost engine accounted for almost 42 per cent of demand in B-Max, 24 per cent in Fiesta and 30 per cent in Focus during the first quarter of 2013.
