Ford Motor Company’s 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine, which lowers fuel consumption without sacrificing power, was today named 2014 International Engine of the Year for an unprecedented third straight year.
The 1.0-liter EcoBoost – available for Ford Fiesta and slated as a power offering for the 2015 Focus as well – fought off competition from premium brands and supercar contenders to win the award for its driveability, performance, economy, refinement and technology.
A panel of 82 automotive journalists from 35 countries also named the engine Best Engine Under 1.0-Liter for the third year in a row at Engine Expo 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany.
“To deliver the complete package of eye-popping fuel economy, surprising performance and real refinement, we knew this little 1.0-liter engine would have to be a game changer,” said Bob Fascetti, vice president, Ford Powertrain Engineering. “Through our One Ford approach to development, EcoBoost continues to set the benchmark for power combined with fuel efficiency from a gasoline engine.”
The 1.0-liter EcoBoost has now won 13 major awards. In addition to collecting seven International Engine of the Year awards in three years – including Best New Engine in 2012 – the 1.0-liter EcoBoost also was awarded the International Paul Pietsch Award 2013 for technological innovation in Germany; the Dewar Trophy from Royal Automobile Club in Great Britain; and the Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics in the United States. Ford is the first automaker to win a Ward’s 10 Best Engines trophy for a three-cylinder engine.
“This year’s competition was the fiercest yet, but the 1.0-liter EcoBoost continues to stand out for all the right reasons – great refinement, surprising flexibility and excellent efficiency,” said Dean Slavnich, co-chairman, 16th International Engine of the Year awards and editor, Engine Technology International magazine. “The 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine is one of the finest examples of powertrain engineering.”
Global power
Ford vehicles equipped with the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine are now available in 72 countries worldwide. Later this year, U.S. customers will be able to buy the new Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost. The Fiesta 1.0-liter EcoBoost is in dealerships now.
More than 200 engineers and designers from Ford research and development centers in Aachen and Merkenich in Germany, and Dagenham and Dunton in the United Kingdom spent 5 million-plus hours developing the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine.
The engine’s compact, low-inertia turbocharger spins at up to 248,000 rpm – more than 4,000 times per second and almost twice the maximum rpm of the turbochargers powering 2014 Formula 1 race car engines.
With an engine block small enough to fit in the overhead luggage compartment of an airplane, the 1.0-liter features a cylinder head with an integrated and cooled exhaust manifold that lowers exhaust temperatures for optimizing the fuel-to-air ratio. An innovative flywheel and front pulley design delivers improved refinement compared with traditional three-cylinder engine designs.
Engine friction is reduced by specially coated pistons, low-tension piston rings, low-friction crank seals and a cam-belt-in-oil design. A variable-displacement oil pump tailors lubrication to demand and optimizes oil pressure for improved fuel efficiency.
“The 1.0-liter EcoBoost was created as a radical, smaller-displacement engine to meet the biggest automotive challenge in the world – no-compromise refinement, performance and great fuel economy,” said Andrew Fraser, manager, Gasoline Calibration, Ford of Europe. “The secret to EcoBoost success is a range of innovative technologies that deliver big-car benefits from a small engine.”
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