Ford elaborates on plans to expand in Chinese new energy vehicle market

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai November 24) - Shortly after announcing that Ford will be producing a 1.0 L Ecoboost engine, CEO Alan Mulally said that a new car made for the motor will be manufactured soon, the Beijing Times reported today. The new car will reportedly be based on the Start concept, which made its debut at the Auto Beijing show held earlier this year.

According to Kumar Galhotra, vice president of product development for Ford's Asia-Pacific division, the 1.0 L engine will be the newest edition to Ford's Ecoboost line of engines, which strive to cut emission while increasing efficiency. The 120 hp engine will produce 170 Nm of torque.

Reports that a new model based on the Start concept (pictured) would be coming to China surfaced earlier this year. It is still unclear when the car will make its market debut and what sort of transmission it would carry.

Officials from Ford were quick to point out the importance of economically-priced energy saving cars in the Chinese market, with all research and development trends going towards new energy and electric vehicles. Additionally, Ford will be updating its entire Chinese product line before 2015, as well as introducing new hybrid models to the country. Ford announced earlier this week that it would also be bringing over 20 new engine and transmission systems to China in the upcoming years.