Ford Falcon gets four-cylinder engine - no, really

The Falcon sedan's new turbocharged 2-litre four-cylinder engine will be the biggest environmental change in the car's 50-year history.

Ford Australia has dumped plans to build the small/medium Focus across the ditch and will instead introduce a four-cylinder Falcon and diesel version of the Territory SUV.

The new product plans are part of an A$230 million ($287 million) programme to introduce more environmentally friendly engines to the Australian-built models.

Also included is a new, more technologically advanced version of its LPG engine.

Ford planned to build the Focus in Australia to boost its small/medium line-up there and in New Zealand. But it says global economic conditions meant it could not make a business case for the project.

It is believed the Focus will now be imported from Thailand.

The Falcon sedan will get a turbocharged 2-litre four-cylinder engine and the Territory will pick up a 2.7-litre V6 diesel sourced from Jaguar/Land Rover and Peugeot.

The company says the engine changes will be accompanied by other engineering developments such as lightweight components designed to cut fuel consumption.

Ford says the 2-litre Eco-boost engine will provide six-cylinder performance with about 20 per cent better fuel economy and 15 per cent fewer CO2 emissions.

The engine has been developed by its US parent and will arrive in Australia in 2011.

The carmaker expects it to deliver 8 litres/100km under the bonnet of the Falcon.

The diesel engine destined for the Territory uses 7.5 litres/100km in Jaguar's XF sedan and marginally less in the Peugeot 407 sedan. It has recorded around 8 litres/100km in the Land Rover Discovery 3.

The V6 will go into the Territory in 2011, where it will reduce CO2 by up to 25 per cent from six-cylinder petrol engines.

The new LPG engine will use the latest liquid-injection technology, which provides more power while delivering better fuel efficiency.

"We are ensuring our core Falcon and Territory vehicles will have the most advanced, high-tech and cleanest engines possible," says Ford Australia boss Marin Burela.

The Falcon will be the first rear-drive Ford to receive the 2-litre unit, the biggest environmental change in the car's 50-year history.

"Falcon customers will now have the choice of either the I6 [4-litre straight-six] engine, which will be Euro IV-compliant, or one of the first global applications of the Eco-boost engines," says Burela.

Australia's Federal Government will contribute A$42 million to the Ford programme through its Green Car Innovation Fund. The Victorian State Government will also contribute.

Burela says Ford could "not profitably manufacture" the Focus in Australia.

"The economic climate has changed. When we made the original decision it was the right one at the time."

He said there was "absolutely no way" for the company to build the Focus profitably and compete with cars built in low-cost plants overseas.

"We needed to bring the [Focus] in from low-cost economies but we needed to provide, absolutely, through our compliment of large cars, four-cylinder technology as well.

"Because Australians have said to us very clearly: 'We love the comfort, we love the driving performance of a large car. But what we also want is sustainability and fuel economy'.

"Our investments demonstrate not only our commitment to address climate change, but to bringing leading-edge technologies to the Australian and New Zealand markets."