Ford Motor Co. seems to be making plans to announce the production of a new engine in Windsor, Ontario — or at least that’s the buzz from insider sources.
We already knew the venerable V10 the company manufactures for use in its trucks and cutaway incarnations of the Econoline would be ending production sometime within the next four years.
That successor is now believed to possess fewer cylinders, a larger displacement, and be named “the 7X platform.”
Early accounts are conflicted, but the motor is most likely a gas-burning 6.9-liter V8 offering additional torque and improved economy against the 6.8-liter V10. Ford declined to comment on the powerplant’s details. Fortunately, the Canadian government was willing to throw everyone a bone. Albeit a small one.
Globe and Mail initially reported Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be announcing the new engine platform at the at the Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ontario, on Thursday morning. Additional sources confirmed this with Reuters, adding that Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas, and Mark Buzzell, CEO of Ford of Canada, would also be present.
At the event, Trudeau said Ontario’s forthcoming $102.4 million investment into The Blue Oval’s Windsor plants would result in an all-new global engine program resulting in new powertrains. The stimulus is designed to supplement Ford Canada’s own $1.2 billion investment and bolster the country’s auto industry after years of job losses to Mexico and the U.S.
“Today’s investments will help create and maintain almost 800 great jobs for Canadians in Windsor and across Ontario, while equipping Canadians with the skills they need to design and build the cars of the future,” Trudeau said. “This is about positioning Canada as a global centre for automotive innovation, creating better opportunities for Canadians, and keeping Canada’s automotive manufacturing sector competitive.”
Ford was a little less forthcoming, hinting that $500 million of its own money is slated specifically for its new Research and Engineering Centre in Ottawa, with the remaining funds earmarked to update the Windsor engine facilities’ R&D programs. However, it did not outline any specific products, comment on future platforms, or mention the X7 by name.
That has not stopped everyone else from talking about it.
Brian Maxim, a vice president at AutoForecast Solutions, told Reuters he expects Ford to produce at least 125,000 units of the new engine per year for commercial use, starting in 2019 — though Maxim called it a 7.0 liter, not a 6.9-liter V8.
Whatever ends up anchored under the hood of Ford’s heaviest haulers, it’ll continue to be produced in Canada. Ford’s $1.2 billion investment upholds its November deal with Unifor to commit resources toward the Canadian auto industry and ensure future employment for its members.
“Unifor went into talks with the Detroit Three with one goal in mind — secure investment in the Canadian auto industry to ensure good jobs for future generations,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in a statement. “This investment shows the good things that happen for the entire community when there is a voice for working people at the table.”
[Image: Ford Motor Co.]
The 6.2 is already relegated to de facto commercial applications, so this is the successor?
The 6.2 gas V8 is just too small for a commercial engine, great for small cars and half-tons. If the 6.2 isn’t going into the Mustang or F-150 then there’s no reason to keep it around a 7.0 is a great start for a entry engine especially in the F-250. GM and FCA could learn a thing about gas V8s, they should never have abandoned those 8 liter platforms.
Small cars huh, sounds great. Where to I pick up my 6.2L Focus? I bet torque steer will be a b¡tch.
Get the rear wheel biased AWD version.
I mean a 6.2L really isn’t that big of an engine, even a 6.9 or 7.0 is small enough to potentially be an inline gas 6. Not likely though, automakers haven’t made something creative in a decade.
But again 7.0 is safely around 427 cubes, nice middle of the road commercially sized engine.
Too bad Ford never made the stretch with the 6.2 Boss in the S-197. They could have done amother Mach1 and backed the dump truck up to the dealership door and hauled the cash off.
Make it 7 liters and call it the “Cammer” and it would have a liscence to print money or hell make sure it displaced an honest 429 ci and they could have marketed another Boss 429.
John-95 – to some people, a 1959 Cadillac is a small car.
Like Einstein said, “it is relative”
A 430hp 6.2L would have been killer in something like a Charger-sized Galaxie revival. Or in a Mercury Cougar type car.
Alas such things don’t exist any longer. I still wish it was an option for the Expedition and F-150 though.
I’m thinking if this does find its way into the 250/350 then it will be a mid-level option between the 6.2L and PSD. Although maybe this will just be 450 and above.
480 horses and 560 torque would be a very good cheap alternative to the maintanence heavy diesel.
@ajla – a 500 hp 7.0 in a Galaxie and call it a Galaxie 500.
I love it.
Supercharge the thing for sick HP and call it a Thunderbolt.
and a Cougar Eliminator!
NEXT:
2 seater, 7 litre sports car = AC Cobra
Use F – Series aluminum tech on it.
Yeahhhh baybee
A step between the entry level and the big diesel
I doubt that a 7 Litre gasser would be the start of a new global platform.
A diesel maybe but not a gasser.
@Lou_BC
Same here. Maybe Ford’s concept of Global is the US and Canada
That’s a plenty big enough market to make money and justify the cost of this kind of platform.
Would be real,sweet if Ford ditched the modular engine line. I love my Voodoo V8 but that 100 mm bore spacing has been hurting Ford since the modultrasound platform launched. The Coyote/Voodoo platform is about as far as you can,stretch it.
Stock for stock it’s okay but outside of that the block nends some help due to the very thin bores. When you really lean on them it takes quirky fixes straps in the valley between the banks and at the extreme end drilling and tapping the block to accept bolts that pass through the water jackets and bear directly on the cylinder liner to keep the cylinder from blowing out as it flexes under boost or nitrous.