You know that game at a county fair where the jar is full of jelly beans and if you correctly guess the amount, you get one of those stuffed bears? We suck at that game. Not sure whether it’s some kind of hand/eye coordination problem or that we’re distracted from drooling over what could be 100 or 45,000 tasty jelly beans.
Today, we present the figurative jelly bean game, but if this jar is full of Ford vehicles with EcoBoost® engines, you have to guess how many you think sold in 2011. Go ahead, take a moment; we’re again distracted by drooling, this time over a jar full of Ford vehicles.
The correct answer is 127,883 EcoBoost-equipped vehicles, making for record sales! And now Ford is aiming to more than triple the production capacity of EcoBoost-equipped Ford vehicles in 2012. This year, Ford will offer EcoBoost engines in 11 vehicles; in 2011, 7 had the engine. The EcoBoost has also contributed to accolades for Ford, such as the F-150 scoring the Motor Trend 2012 Truck of the Year® award.
Other big EcoBoost news has already included the 1.6-liter engine for the Escape and Fusion. “EcoBoost expansion and availability in high-volume nameplates such as the all-new Ford Escape and Fusion will take this affordable, fuel-saving technology to the heart of the market,” said Sue Cischke, Ford Group Vice President of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.
Additionally, the full-size Taurus sedan becomes the first Ford vehicle to offer customers a choice between two EcoBoost engines: a 2.0-liter four-cylinder making an estimated 237 horsepower and giving customers up to EPA-estimated, class-leading 31 mpg, while the iconic Taurus SHO sport sedan features a 365-horsepower, twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 delivering an EPA-estimated 25 mpg highway. Plus, the Focus ST arrives this year as a high-performance – yet fuel-efficient – sport compact EcoBoost application, and there’s the EcoBoost-powered Police Interceptor.
The EcoBoost sounds like quite the multitasker, doesn’t it? But it’s ready, having already been tortured and subjected to cold-weather testing.
Here’s a fun tidbit: In 2010, all F-150 trucks sold featured a V8 engine. Just one year later, 56 percent of 2011 F-150 customers bought pickups with a fuel-saving V6, either the base 305-horsepower 3.7-liter or the 365-horsepower 3.5-liter EcoBoost. By the end of 2012, nine Ford models will deliver or are anticipated to deliver an EPA-certified 40 mpg highway or higher, with still more fuel-efficient vehicles on the way.
Sounds like the Blue Oval might just deserve a bear.