Ford Mondeo 2.0L might fall victim to EU CO2 regs
Mid-sized D-Class cars are considered larger cars in the European market and one of the more popular engine sizes in these cars are 2.0L gas engines. With the onset of new EU CO2 emissions limits in the next few years the 2.0L gas engine is expected to become a thing of the past in that class. The recently launched Ford Mondeo currently offers 2.0L and 2.3L four cylinders and both are likely to be replaced by a new 1.6L turbocharged four cylinder.
Ford hasn't released any details of the new engine yet but other companies are getting outputs in the same 120-160hp range of the 2.0-2.3L engines from 1.6L turbos. The advantage of the smaller engines such as the Volkswagen TSI are that they achieve similar power with considerably lower CO2 output especially when direct fuel injection is used.
[Source: AutoCar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jcwinnie 8:11PM (5/01/2007)
Interesting use of language, especially for a blog that ostensibly is about green Ottos.
When one uses the phrase, "fall victim to", I think of people starving or dying of thirst, or perhaps drown, or having succumbed to some contagious disease that spread through a community due to contaminated water supplies after a weather disaster. That sort of thing.
I am unaccustomed to thinking of environmental standards set by a government for the welfare of people living on a continent, indeed throughout the world, as one of the four cylinders of the apocalypse.
Oh, well...
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Schmeltz 7:46AM (5/02/2007)
Somebody should shake some sense into Alan Mulally and get him to bring this lovely piece of art over to America. I thought this was a true touch of class ever since I saw it in "Casino Royale". This would be a true revival piece for Ford here. Lets start a lobbying group to get it here. Who's with me?
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mikeinBuilding7 10:02PM (5/01/2007)
That's a nice looking car, why don't we get the CAR or the Engine.
Ford up the B*tt of ExxonMobile?
What gives with these guys?
Gas in PA is now 2.99 and talk of 4 dollar summer gas, yet, the Auto Industry is completely unresponsive. No smaller engines, just talk of re-introducing Muscle Cars.
These cars didn't sell well in the 90's because of road conjestion. Have things changed? Only for the worse.
So, how does the auto industry decide what cars to produce and what engines to drop in those cars? Still looks like Oil Industry Kickbacks.
How can we tell there are kickbacks? By the complete Un-responsiveness of the industry.
If I were a Shareholder I'd want some answers.
Why hasn't the auto industry, esp. GM, ordered up OPTIONAL smaller engines for their SUV's? These are supposed to be the Most Profitable vehicles they sell. Yet, you still can't get an SUV in America without a HUGE V8. It's not market forces. It's Supplier Manipulation of Auto Industry Upper Mgmt.
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Jimmy 11:42PM (5/01/2007)
#2
You realize the world's largest auto maker just spent millions on a new factory and massive marketing campaign across America for their enormous new V8 truck. I'm talking about Toyota of course.
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ThwartedEfforts 8:23AM (5/02/2007)
European models -- particularly the Focus and Mondeo, but not forgetting most new Renaults, Citroens, SEATs and the like -- get such a rapturous reception from Americans wherever they show up on forums and blogs that there HAS to be some reason why the manufacturers don't sell them in the US. Even they must know the demand for these cars is there.
Having said that, a lot of the more popular engines (e.g. some of the mightier German turbodiesels) are now being/will soon be sold in the States, and the Fiesta is due to make an appearance in when, two years or so?
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cowbell 9:05AM (5/02/2007)
Number 5, here is what I believe the main reason they do not sell the Mondeo here: The factory producing the Mondeo is running three shifts in Belgium, and they are selling every car they make. And when they sell them in Europe, they make more money then they could selling them here with the incredibly weak dollar and cost of shipping across borders. Why ship any to the US at a loss when they are making a profit in Europe?
The solution to this would be to build them in the US. I'm guessing that the cost to re-tool a US plant to build the Mondeo is more than they think they could make of selling them here. They might be wrong, but that's what I believe the reasoning is.
My understanding is that it's Ford's plan to make more flexible production facilities and more universal vehicles, so that if there is a hot car in one part of the world it can be easily built in another to sell to a different market.
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