SVT + Ecoboost = Ford Fusion GT

The remains of Ford's tuner group, SVT, plans the anticipated Fusion GT for release in late 2009 or early 2010. The Fusion GT will be the fourth in the Ford Motor Company lineup, after Lincoln MKS, Ford Flex, and Lincoln MKR (the Enclave-fighting Flex) to get an EcoBoost gas direct-injection, turbo engine. EcoBoost is designed primarily to "downsize" engines -- that is, GDI turbo fours in place of V-6s, GDI turbo V-6s where there would normally be V-8s.

The Fusion GT's 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 will make about 340 horsepower, about the same as the coming MKS turbo, but well below the engine's 415-horse capabilities. To handle a prodigious torque number, the Fusion GT will be equipped with a Haldex part-time AWD differential. The target is to make the car an affordable Audi S4. Lincoln's MKS turbo launches next year, about a half year after the 3.7-liter MKS's debut. It'll come with a paddle-shift six-speed manumatic and a wheel-and-tire package.

Other models considered for EcoBoost are a four-cylinder EcoBoost Fusion in 2010, a low-volume Focus GT with a four-cylinder EcoBoost in 2010, and an EcoBoost V-6 as the top engine in the downsized pickup, tentatively named F-100.

Ford is looking at an EcoBoost I-4 for the Edge crossover; an EcoBoost V-6 Mustang with more power than the Mustang GT -- the first north-south application of the engine family -- is apparently on hold.