Car maker Ford is set to triple production of vehicles equipped with its EcoBoost petrol engines manufactured in Bridgend, Wales, from 141,000 a year in 2011 to 480,000 by 2015.
Over 135,000 of these new vehicles will be equipped with the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine, manufactured in Bridgend with more than 1.3 million low-CO2 EcoBoost engines planned to go into European vehicles over the period 2012-2015.
More than 800,000 of these eco-friendly cars are expected to be fitted with the new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, produced at Ford’s new plant in Craiova, Romania and in Cologne, Germany.
During this same period around 400,000 1.6-litre EcoBoost engines will be produced at Ford’s plant in Bridgend for European vehicles and production will total of over one million engines for all export markets.
EcoBoost engine technology was developed by UK powertrain engineers located at the Ford Dunton Technical Centre and Ford Dagenham engine plant in Essex.
The production expansion coincides with an increase in the availability of EcoBoost engines across the model line-up in the European Ford range.
The number of Ford models available with EcoBoost engines will double from five to 10 by 2015 when EcoBoost engines will power more than half of all Ford of Europe petrol-engined cars.
“Our plans to expand EcoBoost availability are aggressive, but we believe as customers experience this engine family, they’ll understand why,” said Sherif Marakby, powertrain director for Ford of Europe.
“We’re at the cutting edge of innovation and the 1.0-litre engine, for example, cannot be matched for its balance of efficiency, power and refinement.”
Ford’s engine plant in Bridgend has produced over 120,000 1.6-litre EcoBoost engines since 2010 and is set to produce over 230,000 in 2012, which is over 30% per cent of the plant’s annual total production forecast of 780,000.
The export of this UK-built powertrain to the US and Mexico began this year, powering the Ford Focus, C-MAX and Grand C-MAX, Mondeo and S-MAX and Galaxy models sold in the UK and Europe.
