EcoBoost provides boost to Focus sales

JUST as the economic situation begins to bite, car buyers are responding to the high cost of fuel by seeking out more economical and frugal  cars. And one of those filling this niche is the Ford Focus EcoBoost.
The car giant’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost model  accounted for 17 per cent of sales in the April figures, the first full month it was in the showrooms. This works out at round 1,000 cars. The popularity of the engine is shown by the fact that it was ordered in over 25 per cent of Ford’s sales in the UK. Around Europe, more than 4,700 buyers placed an order for the Focus 1.0-litre EcoBoost in April, accounting for 23.3 per cent of the Ford Focus models in Europe’s major 19 markets.
“The 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine is an example of an innovation arriving to market at just the right time, when customers are looking for a very fuel efficient but still-fun-to-drive petrol engine,” said Roelant de Waard, vice-president, marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe. “I have rarely seen such universal praise from the press, dealers and customers as that received for the Focus 1.0-litre EcoBoost.”
Philip Maskell, Ford UK dealer council chairman and chairman and managing director, Essex Auto Group, said: “The new and exciting 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine in Focus has attracted a lot of positive attention at Ford dealers since its launch in April.  We are delighted that over 60 per cent of customers who are in the market for a Ford Focus with a manual transmission go on to purchase one equipped with the new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine after a test drive.”
The new EcoBoost turbocharged, direct injection engine is Ford’s smallest, yet highest power density petrol engine ever, delivering the performance of a conventional 1.6-litre engine with improved fuel efficiency and lower CO₂. The Focus 1.0-litre EcoBoost is class-leading in fuel economy and CO₂ emissions in the C-segment for petrol-engine vehicles.
Weighing just 97 kilos, the 1.0-litre EcoBoost is small enough to sit on a sheet of A4 paper. The engine will also be available in the Ford B-MAX and Ford C-MAX later this year, with further applications yet to be announced.