LPI hints at Falcon's development path

Ford Australia has revealed nothing about its sales forecast for the Falcon with the advent of the EcoLPI engine, but the very existence of the advanced fuel delivery system says much about the company's aspirations. EcoLPI wouldn't be as sophisticated, we suggest, if the company wasn't aiming for more private buyers to enter the fold.

In the past, sales of E-Gas Falcons have accounted for "between 20 and 25 per cent of the total model mix", said Beth Donovan, Ford's Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service during a media event for the press yesterday. Most of those sales would go to fleets.

But one of the major goals for the LPI system's R&D team was to satisfy the demands of private customers, who, in the words of the project's Powertrain Engineering Manager, Pritika Maharaj, "don't want the compromises".

Fleet buyers of LPG-fuelled vehicles can be typically relied on to continue buying the product offered — the fleet buyers don't have to drive them, after all. Private buyers are more selective... and LPG hasn't appealed as much to that demographic in the past. All the standard complaints have been addressed with the new system however. There's no rough running, no constant cranking, no loss of performance against a petrol-engined equivalent.

As Ford's Chief Program Engineer for Falcon and Territory, David Wilkinson, explained to motoring.com.au, LPG-fuelled vehicles overseas are mostly commercial vehicles. As is well known, commercial-vehicle drivers are paid to operate them — with little recourse to demand something better.

Australia is different however, and an LPG Falcon could and should grow sales with an option that delivers proper levels of refinement, significantly lower running costs and practically no downside.

"I think initially we're planning around the same sort of mix as it was, but clearly there is opportunity, hopefully, to grow..." Wilkinson said, when asked about sales growth potential for Falcon overall, as a consequence of introducing the LPI engine.

"Any sort of driveability compromises are gone. There are two differences [drivers will notice with the new fuel system]; one is your wallet, the other one is yeah, it's a different sort of way of putting fuel into a car.

"It's one of the reasons why large fleets insist on, or prefer, single-fuel LPG — because if they offer their fleet drivers dual fuel, often they find that they won't fill up with LPG. They'll just do the easy thing and just fill up with petrol. The fleet's not saving as much as they should do with LPG."

While Ford appears careful not to overhype the EcoLPI Falcon, it also seems that the company tacitly has a lot of hope invested in the new engine. Sales of the Falcon sedan are down over 40 per cent for year-to-date sales and Ford may be expecting a massive surge in the market once word gets out about the LPI engine. If that doesn't happen...

One of the things that will depend on Falcon's improving fortunes in the VFACTS large-car segment will be approval for a Euro 5 update. If sales don't pick up there may not be a business case for continued development or production of the large car beyond the 2013 start date for the Euro 5 emissions standard in Australia.

Speaking with Wilkinson and the LPI project's Base Engine and Alternate Fuels Supervisor, Simon Flint, it appears that upgrading both the petrol and LPI engines to meet the Euro 5 standard should not pose a massive technical challenge, but there are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out first — and company president Bob Graziano is yet to confirm that a Euro 5 project for Falcon (and Territory) will go ahead.

"It's a development program obviously, but it's not a huge development program," said Wilkinson.

"Both the petrol and the LPI could be made to meet Euro 5. It's a development program and it takes time and money... and facilities...

The decision is due within a couple of years, according to Wilkinson, but that's also when Euro 5 is scheduled for implementation, suggesting that Ford either expects an extension from the government or it can fast-track the introduction of an upgraded Falcon within that timeframe. The EcoLPI project has taken around two years to come to fruition and Euro 5 may not require anything like that length of time.

"We haven't made any decisions with what we're going to do with Falcon and Territory;" said Wilkinson, "that's all in the hopper — the platform, the powertrain, the timing. We're working through that at the moment."

Asked what sort of considerations would impact on future decisions for the indigenous designs, Wilkinson offered a number of matters for deliberation.

"It's what everyone would consider doing forward projections; it's fuel prices, size of market segmentation, it's profitability, it's commonality with other Ford platforms where that's possible. I'm being very vague because it's all in the melting pot; we've got to consider all of those things..."

Subsequently, Wilkinson and Flint advised that what holds back the Falcon six from being Euro 5 compliant right now is the little matter of it remaining as environmentally clean after 160,000km as it is from new. The Euro 4 standard, which the inline six currently achieves, only requires a pass mark at 100,000km. To get to 160,000km with the same level of low-emissions from the exhaust requires sensors and probes to remain in top form — an issue of longevity and durability, albeit with regular maintenance permitted.

According to Flint, a Euro 5 development project for the Falcon's inline six must balance the phosphorous content in the engine's oil. Phosphorous adds to oil's lubricating properties, but can damage some of components, such as the catalytic converter that minimises the pollutants exiting the exhaust. Ideally, engineers wanting a long life for the cat will demand lower phosphorous levels in the oil, but those engineers wanting engine longevity will demand the reverse.

Neither Flint nor Wilkinson mentioned the EcoBoost four-cylinder engine that is pencilled in for launch in the Falcon range from early next year. That could make the sixes redundant, depending on how it's received by new-car buyers — but countering that, the EcoLPI Falcon has what it takes to be a very strong product in the marketplace.

So, based on all that then, for Geelong to build a Euro 5-compliant inline six beyond 2013, perhaps the pertinent question is: How long's a piece of string?

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