Ford has announced that it plans to expand production of its 1.0-litre EcoBoost powertrain at its Cologne plant by doubling the daily capacity at the facility to 1,000 units a day, according to a Dow Jones International news report. The increase in production is in line with Ford's strategy to make the three-cylinder powertrain a cornerstone of the company's European powertrain programme, with Ford planning to triple production of models featuring EcoBoost engines from 141,000 units in 2011 to 480,000 units in 2015. Ford of Europe expects around 300,000 units it sells in the European market will be fitted with the powertrain by 2015. In the first quarter of 2013 in Europe, the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine accounted for 42% of orders in the B-MAX range, 30% in Focus and 24% in Fiesta in Ford's European markets, according to the company's own data.
Significance: According to IHS Automotive's powertrain forecast production of the 1.0 litre three-cylinder unit which is the most prominent example of Ford's downsizing powertrain strategy, is scheduled to rise to 577,000 units by 2016 on a global basis, up from just under 170,000 units in 2012 as more and more models are rolled out with the unit. The Cologne plant will be responsible for production of about 350,000 units of this total by that point, with the powertrain also being manufactured in Europe at Ford's plant in Craiova, Romania. Ford is even fitting the unit to the new European-specification Mondeo, which will be rolled out next year after the model's launch was delayed from 2013. It will be the first D-segment model to feature a powertrain of such small capacity.
