EcoBoost Edge for Ford

Ford's Edge crossover SUV will be updated for the 2011 model year with the same EcoBoost 2.0-litre engine that Ford Australia plans to offer buyers in the Falcon.

The American vehicle is wider than the Aussie-built Territory SUV, but not as long and is currently equipped with a 3.5-litre V6. This disguised vehicle was spotted while testing and appears to be a facelift rather than an altogether new model.

According to master spy photographers, Carparazzi, the Edge should muster around 170kW of power and 325Nm of torque from the direct-injected and turbocharged four-cylinder powerplant. Those seem like pretty good figures for Falcon too, when the locally-built sedan is introduced with the same engine sometime in 2011.

Being a large sedan, the Falcon can't afford to go to light on output for the sake of fuel efficiency, but nor can it present a better alternative to the existing inline six -- soon to be upgraded to Euro 4 compliance -- for power and torque.

The Edge, being a 2011 model, will likely reach American showrooms late in 2010, perhaps as much as 12 months or more ahead of the similarly-powered Falcon. Where the Edge will differ from the Falcon in the application of the EcoBoost engine resides in the mounting of the powertrain. In the Edge, the engine runs transversely and drives the front wheels primarily. The Falcon, as already reported, will run the engine longitudinally.

-- with Carparazzi

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