Ford has announced it has a new EcoBlue engine that will be the diesel used in smaller diesel powered vehicles in the future. This engine is expected to eventually be part of the Transit lineup and is made to not only work well in the European market that has less stringent requirements, but also to be made to function in the US. In the wake of the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal this could be a step in the right direction for diesel and as it appears, Ford could be working to capture some of the customers Volkswagen will lose from the scandal.
This new engine is a 2.0-liter that will replace the 2.2-liter Duratorq version. This engine is thirteen percent more efficient than the outgoing model thanks to the new crankshaft, camshaft and belt in oil system. This engine adds a new turbocharger and even has an alloy in the turbo that helps to improve the resistance to heat to make this engine able to perform even better. All this together appears to be an engine that is on a mission to be the right choice for the diesel variation for many of the smaller cars and SUVs from the Ford lineup.
Because of the Volkswagen scandal and the questions surrounding diesel Ford went a step farther than required with this engine. They have built it to meet the Euro 6 emissions standards which don’t even go into effect until later this year. This engine could have been built to only meet Euro 5 standards, but by doing this Ford is ahead of the game and has an engine that reduces the emissions by as much as 55 percent over the previous models to be fully in compliance with not only the European guidelines, but those of the global emissions standards including the US.
This little diesel engine will be put into the commercial van lineup for now and be made to run at three different levels. The horsepower expected for the vans will be from 105 to 170 with a much higher rate of torque at lower rpm to give these vans that power they need. When the passenger cars do enjoy this engine it’s expected to be able to produce between 200 and 240 horsepower and still maintain the excellent torque that will peak at 1,250 rpm to give us the power we want from these engines at a low rev rate.
Is Ford trying to take advantage of the woes of Volkswagen? Does that really matter in the long run? There is no doubt this new engine was in the works before the Volkswagen scandal, but if Ford is able to somehow benefit from the fact that Volkswagen cheated on the emissions testing that’s not Ford’s problem at all. With this new engine Ford will be able to offer more diesel options to us and give the power and fuel mileage we want from our cars that are made to use fuel that has been at the center of the scandal discussions for the past several months.
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