The 2009 Lincoln MKS a new fuel-efficient 3.7-liter V-6 engine. (Photo courtesy of Ford)
Posted on 01/09/2008 9:50:29 AM PST by Incorrigible
The 2009 Lincoln MKS a new fuel-efficient 3.7-liter V-6 engine. (Photo courtesy of Ford) |
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Derrick Kuzak's vision of the future could scare some gearheads.
Big pickups would use four-cylinder engines, luxury sedans would come with V-6s instead of V-8s. The venerable V-8 engine would be found only on big commercial trucks.
Ford Motor Co.'s vice president of global product design sees engine downsizing as the clearest way to meet new federal fuel economy standards. The trick will be doing it without slashing power.
"We know our customers want better fuel economy," Kuzak said. "We know how to deliver that near-term."
Starting with the launch of the 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan later this year, Ford will begin a multiyear push to cut the size of its engines.
The MKS will replace the Lincoln Town Car as the flagship of Ford's luxury lineup. Unlike the V8-powered Town Car, the MKS will use a six-cylinder engine.
To make up for its size, the new engine swipes two technologies from the hot-rod world — turbo-charging and direct fuel injection.
The result is a V-6 that provides 13 percent more horsepower than the Town Car's V-8 and increases fuel economy.
Work on the MKS' engine has already begun at Ford's plant in Lima, Ohio. The MKS uses a modified version of the 3.5-liter V-6 built there. Later this year, 3.5-liter work will start up at Ford's Brook Park, Ohio, campus.
Despite big power numbers, convincing buyers that a six-cylinder engine can do the work of a V-8 will be a tough sell.
"After decades of selling power, and power being defined as having more cylinders or bigger displacement, you have to completely redefine" engine marketing, said Brett Smith, assistant director of the manufacturing, engineering and technology group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Car buyers may say they want more fuel-efficient vehicles, but Smith said brawny consistently outsells thrifty.
That's why whenever an automaker releases a redesigned car or truck, it tends to be more powerful than the one it replaces.
The 2007 Toyota Camry? Even the 158-horsepower four-cylinder model is 26.4 percent beefier than it was in 1996. The V-6 gained 42.6 percent on its climb to 268 horses.
In 2004, General Motors released the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon small trucks, powered by either a four-cylinder or a five-cylinder engine.
Smith said Ford dealers responded by telling potential buyers that the Colorado was a cylinder short, even though its power numbers were higher than the V- 6 available on Ford's Ranger.
It's a marketing strategy that can't survive new federal mandates of 35 mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency by 2020.
"Everyone's in this together. One company isn't going to be able to sell a bunch of V-8s in a segment where others are selling V-6s. It just won't be possible with these new rules," Smith said.
He added that Ford's chosen technologies, turbo-charging and direct injection, could make small engines powerful enough to allow the company to cut sizes.
Turbo-charging is the practice of forcing more air into an engine cylinder, boosting the power briefly when needed.
Direct injection means injecting fuel directly into those engine cylinders instead of in a port or manifold. The fuel used burns more completely, creating more power with lower emissions. But it's a complex system that requires lots of computer controls.
Combined, the technologies can add thousands to the price of an engine, a cost that Ford's Kuzak said can be reclaimed in less than three years from lower gasoline bills.
There are a handful of cars on the road today that use both technologies, but they tend to be specialty, hot-rod models.
Mazda uses the system in its Speed6. It gets 270 horsepower, 27 percent more than the V-6 Mazda 6 sedan and it costs nearly $7,000 more.
General Motors uses turbo-direct-injection in hot-rod versions of the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice two-door roadsters.
The Saturn Sky Redline uses a 2-liter, four-cylinder engine that gets 50 percent more power than the standard version of the car with a 2.4-liter engine. And it gets 28 miles per gallon on the highway, up from 25 miles on the base Sky.
"These technologies are still marketed as performance add-ons," Smith said. "It's not looked on as a fuel-economy enhancement."
He added that all major automakers are looking at turbo-direct-injection to aid fuel economy, but none has yet mastered it.
Even Ford, the biggest proponent of the technology, plans only 500,000 units by 2012 or about 100,000 engines per year — about 5 percent of its vehicle output.
Kuzak said after 2012, nearly all of Ford's new vehicles will use either that technology or diesel engines.
"I cannot say that we have all of our plans (to get to 35 miles per gallon) buttoned up to 2020. We have our plans through 2012," Kuzak said.
(Robert Schoenberger is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at rschoenb(at)plaind.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
I don’t suppose this bodes well for the V-10s like my wife and I have in our F250 and Excursion.
Auto enthusiasts really need an NRA type organization. Anyone know of anything close?
Very nice. I especially like the one with the Mustang for sale in the background!
I think Ford’s best to motors ever were the last generation of the 302 and the 300ci In-Line 6.
But I drive pick ups.
As a Mazda6/626 owner since 1985, I’m glad to see what the 2009 Mazda6 will look like...
(I’m always tickled to think about all the $30K+ Fords and Lincolns that are based on my $15K (after dickering) Mazda6!)
My mom just sold her Lotus with a four cylinder that had a second gear beyond belief. Of course the cylinders were the diameter of an old steamship engine but man could that thing go.
Yea, the ‘stang was my ride before I bought the Z06!
(sold it at a loss just to get rid of it. A ‘stang ain’t no Vette!)
Think the F150 counts as a “big commercial truck”? If not my dad will be switching brands. He’s had 3 F150’s so far but won’t get rid of his V8 engine to stay in the Ford family.
LOL!
I think not.
Again Audi, VW and Porsche are essentially doing the same thing with turbo and FSI and no one complains.
Oops!
I meant “an extra 27 percent horsepower”, not “27 extra horsepower”
in my post 30 above.
Off-topic comment: Why does the Lincoln MKS look like a Pontiac? What were they thinking with that grille design???
There are turbos now that instead of being driven by exhaust gases are driven by the crankshaft, much less lag than traditional turbos. Couple this with direct injection and you would essentially have a motor that can cruise a car on sub-100HP and burst to 200 plus easily and reliably.
I have a Cummins turbo diesel that is a daily driver at 235HP or so, flip a go button in the cab and it will dyno over 400RWHP and 900+ ft/lbs of torque.
The range of adjustability of an electronically controlled, direct injected, turbo charged engine is incredible.
Ford looks to be in a death spiral. Would you rather have an expensive Turbo6 in your Ford pickup, or a Toyota with a V8? (Hint: higher temperatures and pressures lead to shorter engine lives)
Why don't some of these auto manufacturers simply take their existing engines and add another gear (5th, 6th, or even 7th) to improve fuel economy?
Conversely, the auto industry could push the U.S. government to do one thing that would probably be quite effective in improving overall fuel efficiency: Increase the number of vehicles with manual transmissions on the road. This isn't a bad idea at all . . . if Congress is going to force people to drive certain types of cars to meet these fuel standards, they might as well force them to drive cars that require a driver who -- well, KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE.
God gave us the V-8 to let us know that he loved us, and that everything would be OK.
For example, I am the owner of a 2003 Cobra Mustang: Double over head cam and factory supercharger. It delivers 400 HP to the rear wheels, and on my last long driving trip I registered 28 MPG! Hah! It even has a factory boost meter for the blower. 6-speed standard shift is, well, standard.
I love to hear that blower spool up on the DC beltway.
You're being entirely too close-minded. They could very easily want both!
“There are turbos now that instead of being driven by exhaust gases are driven by the crankshaft, much less lag than traditional turbos.”
Those are not new. They’re called “superchargers.”
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