Jaguar May Be Planning To Bring Back The Straight 6 Engine

A story in Autocar dated April 19 claims that Jaguar is planning to re-introduce a straight 6 cylinder engine soon. The new engine will essentially add two cylinders to the company’s latest Ingenium 4 cylinder engine. The resulting power unit will displace 3.0 liters and could be turbocharged.

Some may see this as a backwards step in an age when all the chatter is about electric cars. Why is Jaguar developing new internal combustion engines instead of building better electric motors? There is a one word answer to that — marketing. For generations, Jaguar cars have been defined by the dual overhead cam straight 6 engines found under the hoods of its cars. By looping back to that prior era, the company could leverage its winning heritage in international motor racing as a way to build its brand identity.

The Ingenium engine is a modular design, which allows multiple engine configurations to be built on the same assembly line. The Ingenium engines all utilize a basic 500 cc cylinder design, which is the same as BMW uses for its inline 6 cylinder engine. Mercedes also uses an inline 6 cylinder engine in some of its cars.

Jaguar plans on  making a 1.5 liter Ingenium three cylinder engine as well as the 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engine and the upcoming 3.0 liter. All engines in the Ingenium series can be configured to run on gasoline or diesel fuel. When will the new engines get here and what cars will they be installed in? “We can’t comment on future product one way or another,” company spokesperson Nathan Hoyt toldAutoblog.

The Ingenium engines all feature lightweight aluminum castings and reduced internal friction techniques. Both oil and water pumps are electric and can be computer controlled to operate in the most efficient way possible. The engines can be adapted to front, rear, or all wheel drive propulsion systems. Autocar says the straight 6 engine will fit into the engine compartments of several Jaguar models, including the  XE, XF, and the forthcoming F-Pace SUV. The new engine would replace the V-6 engine left over from when Ford owned the company.

Jaguar with straight 6 cylinder engine on track at Monaco Historic Races, 2012. Photo by the author.

Source and photo credit: AutoBlog

Ford's Three-Cylinder Engine Does Well In Fiesta; Focus Next Up

Three cylinders is about three-quarters what many U.S. consumers will tolerate, about half the number they prefer and three eighths that of what some consider ideal.

It may come as a surprise then that Ford's 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder, as found in the Fiesta, is actually beating Ford's sales expectations.

About four to eight percent of Fiesta buyers are choosing the 3-pot, reports The Detroit News, despite it only coming with a stick shift--also a hard-sell in American-market vehicles.

To give that sales percentage some perspective, it's roughly equivalent to sales of the car at the opposite end of the Fiesta spectrum--the 200-horsepower Fiesta ST.

It's only a thousand cars so far, which isn't enough to indicate a trend. But it does suggest that some consumers are already willing to trade more conventional engines for the latest generation threes.

Previously, three-cylinder engines have been the preserve of bottom-rung models, relegated to the tiniest and slowest cars on the road.

Daimler's Smart brand has soldiered on for several years with three-cylinder units, while Mitsubishi's Mirage features a 1.2-liter, naturally-aspirated triple reminiscent of cars like the old Geo Metro--a renowned three-cylinder fuel-sipper.

Ford has dragged the engine from its bargain-basement billing however, hugely improving refinement and bolting on a turbocharger for extra go.

As a result, it develops 123 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque, both greater figures than the entry-level 1.6-liter also offered. Despite the extra performance, it's also frugal--37 mpg combined (32 mpg city, 45 mpg highway) to the 1.6 SFE's 34 mpg combined (30 mpg city, 41 mpg highway).

Engines like that found in the Fiesta will be vital in meeting future Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) targets--which is why Ford will also introduce the 1.0 EcoBoost to the Focus range this fall.

That really will be a shake-up for customers--one of the smallest engines an automaker has ever offered in a compact car in the U.S, in a class where engines under two liters capacity are still regarded with suspicion.

In the Fiesta, Ford is expecting EcoBoost sales to climb with the typical summer rise in gas prices, though Ford's biggest problem at the moment is getting stock.

The 3-cylinder engines are produced back at Ford's facility in Germany, so cars are typically built to order rather than hanging around on dealer forecourts.

It won't be long before other three-cylinders filter onto the market, either. The 2014 MINI Cooper uses a 1.5-liter three-cylinder as its base engine, also found in the new BMW i8 plug-in sports car.

GM is working on three-cylinders too--though it's less clear whether any cars so-equipped will make it to U.S. shores.

If sales continue to rise though, it may not be long before three cylinder engines break free of their econobox shackles and displace four-cylinders as the best way of saving gas.

Source: Green Car Reports