New Mondeo has tiny one-litre engine

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Eurocentric new Mondeo has more than a hint of Aston Martin in the front treatment. Not a bad thing, we think.

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Ford has chosen the all-new Mondeo as the next European model to be fitted with its award-winning one-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, following the Focus, B-Max, Fiesta and C-Max.

That makes it the smallest engine yet offered in a C/D-segment Ford sedan, and Ford is claiming impressive fuel-consumption and emissions numbers.

The all-new Mondeo, says Ford of Europe vice-president for product development Barb Samardzich, is expected to deliver CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km from the tiny three-cylinder engine (the block is small enough to sit on a piece of A4 paper) that produces more specific power (92kW per litre) than any previous Ford production engine.

248 000RPM TURBO

But it's not just a little screamer: in Mondeo tune, the 2012 International Engine of the Year is rated for 170Nm (and up to 200Nm in 'overboost' mode) from just 1450rpm, thanks to twin independent variable camshaft timing, a compact, low-inertia turbo that spins to 248 000rpm, direct fuel-injection, an aluminium cylinder head with integrated exhaust manifold, low-friction piston coatings, low-tension piston rings, low-friction crank seals and a cambelt that runs in oil.

We'll bring you more details on the new Mondeo, and other models in Ford's new-product rollout strategy for Europe, as they are released at today's 'Go Further' conference in Amsterdam.

Cutaway shows that new Ford EcoBoost engine has more in common with motorcycles than with traditional car engines.

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