Ford "Pauses" Big V8 Development
Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that Ford is limiting plans for the new line of big block V8 engines, codenamed "Boss" (after Hurricane Katrina made the name "Hurricane" politically unwise). The plan was: stick a 6.2-liter Boss engine in the F-Series pickup trucks. Truck delayed. Plan delayed. AN reckons the Mustang's future 5.0-liter V8 is still on the table; Mark Fields is on record saying they plan to make future V8 engines as fuel efficient as possible. The bad news: without a much-needed boost in horsepower, those few people willing to buy a large SUV or truck are going to pass. That said, the market for big trucks with big engines right is currently in apocalyptic mode. Hell, Ford's in apocalyptic mode. Pumping development cash into a bad-ass V8 makes no sense whatsoever. Ford needs every penny to get the European Focus and Fiesta into the U.S. market– without a Focus 1.0 style failure to launch (with decent quality). This is another sign that CEO Alan Mulally is serious about prioritizing resources– and the dire state of Ford's potential profits.
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They are still going to produce this engine, they just aren't going to put it in nearly as many trucks or produce different displacements like they wanted to. This engine is going in the Super Duty to replace the V10 because the new V8 gets better fuel economy. I heard that the refreshed F150 was tuned to get better fuel economy so maybe they can capture the most fuel efficient truck title.
I used to think Mulally was a genius. Now, I just think he is the only Big 3 exec with common sense...so he looks smart in comparison.
Making another Vee8 is just to keep up with the Jones ( GM & Chryslerbus) They could put the money into a 4-6-8 firing engine where GM gave up eons ago. Honda is putting them in V6. Mercedes have them in Europe. Dont understand why is not sold here. Or Merc didnt want Ralphy Nader to work too hard in his sunset years. With any car/truck weight as aerodynamic as a Barn door with close to 6000 lbs nothing is going to improve the fuel equation. Using a Turbo 6 or 4 may save some fuel. Look at the GMC/Hino diesels, they had the Turbo 4 diesel instead of a 6 cyl. Need to wait for few more yrs , either there'll be big demand ( cheap gas again) or 4 cyl with multiple geared boxes ie like a diesel transport that has 18 speed. A 6 spd with triple ratio rear end.
Actually, people who actually "need" a truck are commercial users interested in total cost of ownership and durability. Most people in the civilized world accomplish this with four cylinder diesels. North Americans had better start getting used to the idea.