UK:Ford and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen to invest 332 million euros in two new engines - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

Stacy94PGT · 10-05-2005, 06:43

Ford and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen to invest 332 million euros in two new engines

Reuters

LONDON -- Ford Motor Co. and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen said they plan to invest 332 million euros ($397 million) in two new diesel engines under the latest phase of a partnership expected to almost double production in five years.

The carmakers said they expected to make 200,000 of each new engine annually at plants in Britain and France in the next few years, with total diesel engine production under the cooperation plan to hit 3.7 million in 2010, up from 2 million in 2004.

The new engines target the light commercial and premium passenger market. Production will start next month under the fourth phase of the carmakers' diesel-engine alliance.

"We now have the basis of the partnership in place with this family of engines," Ford of Europe Chairman Lewis Booth told reporters in London on Wednesday.

Ford will produce a 2.2-liter commercial diesel engine at its Dagenham engine plant in Britain, while Peugeot will make a 2.2-liter engine for both companies' medium-to-large executive models at its Tremery plant in France.

Ford and PSA are banking on the popularity of diesel engines in Europe amid growing pressure to cut down fuel consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

PSA Chairman Jean-Martin Folz said diesel engines were cheaper and produced the same result as hybrid petrol engines, making them more attractive at a time of high petrol prices.

Hybrids, pioneered in the volume car industry by Japanese manufacturers, burn less fuel by adding one or more electric motors to a standard petrol or diesel engine.

"They (hybrids) do not have long-term economic prospects because they are a lot more expensive to produce with the same result," Folz told reporters.

He said the two carmakers had no immediate plans to develop new diesel engines after the fourth phase but would continue to work together.

Ford and PSA have cooperated on diesel engines since 1998.

Stacy94PGT · 10-06-2005, 06:33

Ford deal secures Dagenham jobs

BBC News

One in four Ford engines will be made in Britain

US carmaker Ford plans to build a new diesel engine at one of its largest factories in the UK, safeguarding the jobs of 2,300 workers.
About 200,000 of the engines will be made at Dagenham, Essex, lifting engine output to almost one million a year.

With a £200m investment from Ford, the plant will become the company's biggest engine producer, the firm said.

This means the Dagenham and Bridgend, South Wales factories will produce one in four of all Ford engines worldwide.

The new engine is a joint venture with French car giant Peugeot Citroen, which will build an equivalent number at its Moselle factory.

They will be fitted into both Transit vans and Peugeot's new light commercial vehicle.

Peugeot and Ford have been jointly designing and developing diesel engines for the last seven years, with more than four million engines produced in that time.

The two companies describe the partnership as "one of the most successful engine development programmes in the car business today".

Ford is receiving £13m in aid from the London Development Agency for its development work at Dagenham.