Ford thinks small: Tiny engines help company boost fuel economy

by Bradford Wernle
Automotive News
July 2, 2012

DETROIT — How times have changed.

For decades, automakers boasted of the horsepower and raw size of their engines. Now, Ford Motor Co. is bragging about how many of its vehicles lead their segments in — small engines.

“We have seven vehicles with the smallest engines in their segments,” crowed Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, at the company’s annual new-product presentation for journalists and analysts.

And Ford plans to go smaller. Ford showed off its 1.0-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, now offered in Europe on the Focus and smaller vehicles. Ford will bring the baby engine to a U.S. small car next year. That car likely will be the Fiesta…

 
 

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