German Car Forum

Ford Motor's new top-of-the-line diesel (photo at right) starting rolling off the production line Friday at the company's Dagenham Diesel Centre in Britain. The new powerplant is a twin-turbo 3.6-liter V8 that puts out about 265 hp (270 ps) and 472 ft-lb. of torque (640 Nm). Up to 25,000 of the new V8s will be produced annually.

Ford says it will announce vehicle applications for the new engine later this year.

Ford's Dagenham operation builds half of all Ford diesels worldwide.

[Source: Ford]

That is a very impressive engine, lots of power and a diesel, with twin-turbo's. This can be some serious competition in the power market, especially with some of the lighter weight vehicles.

Also someone had mentioned "Turbos and diesels make for a good combo this 3.6 litre makes more torque than a 7 litre Z06!"

Very true!!!

They'll probably put this in Jaguars and Land Rovers, as Ford doesn't have anything big enough to require such an engine in its own European lineup. The power and torque figures are really impressive, this engine undoubtedly reduces the gap between Ford's luxury offerings and the Germans.

German top diesel engines:

BMW: 4.4L V8: 330ps, 750Nm
Audi: 4.1L V8: 326ps, 650Nm
MB: 4.0L V8: 314ps, 730Nm
VW: 5.5L V10: 313ps, 750Nm
BMW: 3.0L I6 variable twin turbo: 272ps, 560Nm

So the 3.6L V8 twin-turbo 270ps, 640Nm from Ford is not so special at all. Sorry.

Not to mention Audi is working on a new V10 and even V12 diesel for serial production.
BMW will also upgrade the 3.0L I6 VTT later this year. V8 VTT is also in the final development stage.
MB is developing tri-turbo diesel engines.
etc.

Germans are still light years ahead of the competition regarding diesel engines.

Thanks for those figures. I wasn't quite convinced that Ford has got a footing near the Germans.

It is very impressive.... no one said they are trying to be better, but it sure as hell puts them right on the big boys....


PS. A Ford Mustang with this engine would be outstanding....

MikeJ, you would be spot on: Jaguar has been screaming for a high performance V8 diesel and this should fit the bill perfectly. Also, have there been any rumours of cars is the US Ford stable making it across the Atlantic? Surely if Cadillac is on the Continent, Lincoln cannot be far behind...or have I read it wrong?

Cadillac has always maintained some sort of presence in Central and Northern Europe. There was talk of Lincoln returning to Europe back when the LS was launched but those plans were abandoned probably because Ford feared the LS might eat into the sales of the more expensive Jag S-Type (which is based on the same platform). Ford has occasionally tried to fill a gap in its Euro lineup by importing a US model, such as the Explorer or Windstar, but the sales of those have been poor to say the least. Interestingly enough, U.S. models that car enthusiasts might be interested in, such as the new Mustang, are not a part of Ford's strategy in Europe. The GT is a notable exception, but only 101 of those were imported.

Fair enough: but I wonder if the Ford Edge could have some appeal in Europe? And the Ford fusion looks to have some cool appeal too..