ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 30, 2010 -- Inside the world’s largest cities – such as New York, Paris and London – automotive tastes are getting small. Such is the inspiration for the Start Concept, which made its debut in Beijing last week.

Ford says the car is more than a design exercise. Rather, it demonstrates how Ford will extend the promise of its EcoBoost engine technology even further – previewing a fuel-efficient Ford EcoBoost engine with just three cylinders and just 1.0 liters of displacement.

“Our ambition with the Ford Start Concept was to design a car that transcends the practical realities of commuting in these mega cities and goes beyond just dressing the technology,” said Freeman Thomas, Ford design director. “We wanted to design a car you would also love.”

Start has an EcoBoost 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine and a five-speed manual transmission. Ford says that, with turbocharging and direct fuel injection, the engine can achieve performance comparable to a normally-aspirated 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine.

Ford engineers have experimented with the idea of a three-cylinder engine for the past twenty years, but felt the power that could be achieved from such an engine configuration couldn’t be made substantial enough to offer a practical solution for smaller vehicles.

That’s all changed with the Ford EcoBoost technology, which proves that power and fuel savings can be realized through a combination of turbocharging and direct fuel injection.

The new 1.0-liter Ford EcoBoost engine uses a cast iron block, cast aluminum cylinder head and cast aluminum sump. Its compression ratio will be 10:1. According to Ford, its compact architecture makes it ideal for packaging in smaller vehicles – as the Start Concept demonstrates.

Start’s design comes from Ford’s Strategic Concepts Group Studios in Irvine, California. Crisp highlights are incorporated into a smooth exterior shell constructed with lightweight composite body panels.
Ford of Europe’s -- and increasingly Ford in North America’s -- trademark kinetic trapezoidal grill moves upward onto the rounded, sleek form, reducing the number of prominent openings from two to one and creating a face that’s both sporting and efficient.

“With the Ford Start Concept, we didn’t set out to design some sort of utilitarian appliance to save the world, nor were we interested in following the competitive trend toward an overly noisy design language,” said J Mays, group vice president Design and chief creative officer, Ford Motor Company. “What we did set out to do was design a personality driven car that exudes warmth, charm and aspiration…to design a car worth bonding with.”

The design team’s objective with the Ford Start Concept was to step back and ask what is really necessary. The vehicle’s sculptural exterior takes into consideration efficient aerodynamics, from the front fascia, to the flush upper body design elements, and full underbody tray.

“As a pure, bespoke concept, the Ford Start isn’t destined for production, but of course we’re very interested in hearing how customers in urban growth markets react to its design and features,” Thomas said.