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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Looking forward to the new Focus and Fiesta. Should hit just about the time we need to look at a new car.
+1 for Ford. I am paying attention to the reskin of Taurus when I pick out my next ride in 2012. I would also consider a Hybrid MKZ if they build one.
This engine’s been under development for like 6 years. They’ve sunk so much money into starting and stopping this program, they have to build it now to recover some of the investment.
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
Ah, run it by me again? “Without a much-needed boost in horsepower”? So that’s the problem with big SUVs? Not enough horsepower? And all this time I thought it was ludicrous fuel efficiency. Silly me.
Is Detroit finally waking up ? Nothing like being bad-ass and bankrupt.
guyincognito is correct, this engine is basically done and has been in development for years. Not going ahead with it makes no sense.
People who still want and need trucks will certainly be looking at the power and torque specs, specs that Ford will be well short on without it.
@guyincognito:
Well, they will be using it for the Mustang in a 5.0 liter variation. But I think more crucially, it’s a sunk cost – which means that nothing they do now will get that spent money back. Only prudent thing they can do accept that and make the best present-time decision, which is to pause development. They can always resume it if things cool off.
But to put resources into getting the small engines and small cars here sooner? That’s great.
This motor needs to happen for both the Mustang and F150’s HP bragging rights over Chevy. Even with their bulk, the Mod motors are sorely lacking in cubic displacement, just look at the gigantic 5.4L Triton compared to the 5.3L Chevy.
But yeah, now is not the right time.
It is this one up bragging rights arms race that gave us 200+ HP pedestrian sedans and 300HP+ trucks “1/2 Ton” pickups that are as big and capable as the 1 Tons of 20 years ago.
The big cost with a new engine is the tooling. If they didn’t already order the tooling, this move makes more sense.
Once the economy starts to pick up again, light trucks will be purchased by those that really need them. HP wars will become irrelevant. The new battle front will be overall efficiency in the form of lowest operating costs.
It seems to me that a super-torquey big block eight with Displacement-On-Demand (and with an even “higher” overdrive top gear) could give big trucks/utes a serious boost in freeway MPG.
willbodine – yes and better aerodynamics. The brick-wall front ends which are the current fashion on light trucks may look very tough and masculine but they also kill highway MPGs.
@guyincognito:
Those are sunk costs. Mulally must have an MBA; you learn in operations management not to consider sunk costs when making future decisions. In other words, stop now, count your losses, and get to work on new 4-bangers and getting that Fiesta over here.
CNG is ninety cents a gallon. Can I get a factory CNG model F series truck?
Instead of ceasing to make big ol’ v8s why don’t they just drop them in small vehicles and charge no more than about $15 grand for them? There’s still a market for horsepower, just not a market that will pay $30 grand for them. It’s not the fuel efficiency that’s causing stagnating sales, it’s fuel economy AND paying a mint for them.
The tooling is ordered and it is gonna cost big time to get outta this. On the other hand probably worth it considering the V8 market. The 5.4l is still a great truck engine. Lots of torque with the long stroke. Very interesting that it has a similar bore and stroke to the new Toyota engine. The reason to go to a new engine was to increase the displacement since the 5.4l with it’s unusual design cannot be bored any larger. It is a very tall V8 and a short V8. At this point with Ford’s cash flow it would be an intelligent decision. And it will take a couple years to bring Romeo up to speed with the new engine.
Funny thing is the airplane guy Mullaly is way ahead of all the car guys. Of course this may just point out the rot in the Big 2.8 management that put them in this position.
this engine is basically done and has been in development for years. Not going ahead with it makes no sense.
Just because you have dug a hole and almost filled it with money, does not mean you should put in the additional cash to fill it the rest of the way. If it does not make sense to go forward then it does not make sense. What you have already spent is irrelevant.
Your right Qwerty, what they should do is just quit digging. Their outta shovels.
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.