Ford will be launching production of the first EcoBoost V6 engines early next spring for installation into the Lincoln MKS and Ford Flex. The first units will get a 340 hp, 340 lb-ft performance rating and Ford is planning to charge a $700 premium for the new 3.5L turbocharged and direct injected engine. Compared to a similarly powerful V8 engine, the fuel savings from the new V6 are estimated at $339 a year at $3.25/gallon. At current prices the savings will obviously be even higher. In 2010, Ford will also add the engine to the F-150 as an alternative to the current 5.4L V8. In the next couple of years Ford will also be introducing four cylinder EcoBoost engines in other models. By 2012, Ford plans to have EcoBoost engines available in over 90 percent of its vehicles.

Update: Ford spokesman Alan Hall let us know that no official announcement has been made about EcoBoost pricing yet. We'll let you know as soon as we here something definitive.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]

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Now that all the major automakers have acknowledged the reality of both climate change and the need for increased fuel efficiency, they are all looking for ways to address the problems. Speaking at a preview prior to the 2008 Detroit Auto Show Ford Global Product Development VP Derrick Kuzak made it clear that in order to have any real impact, improvements need to start happening quickly and on a large scale. With a U.S. vehicle fleet approaching 200 million vehicles and only about 16 million new vehicles on the road each year, it takes 15-20 years to turn over the fleet to cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

In order to meet the total fleet CO₂ reductions that will be needed over the next several decades, millions of vehicles per year need to cleaned up - a few hundred to a few thousand vehicles won't have an impact. To achieve that, economically efficient solutions will be required so that car buyers can afford to buy. The first steps toward that for Ford will be weight reduction and gasoline-turbocharged-direct-injection (GTDI) engines. GTDI? Yes. Read on past the jump to learn more.


[Source: Ford]