Soon, you should’ve had a V-8 (when they were available)

Welcome to the brave new world of automotive engines, one in which the iconic V-8, proud bearer of both the muscle-car and family-sedan engine crown of yesteryear, slowly rides out into the sunset. The V-8 engine will still be around, but it will exist in niche markets, such as sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette—where General Motors recently stuffed a 620 hp V-8 engine under its hood—or in large trucks and SUVs.

The twin factors of ever-improving technology and a need to meet ever-increasing standards of fuel efficiency have caused manufacturers to take a good look at keeping V-8 engines around. At the Detroit Auto Show this week, Ford introduced a new concept model of its well-known Explorer SUV. Gone is the hefty V-8 usually seen in that vehicle, replaced with a direct-fuel-injected turbocharged 6-cylinder engine that puts out roughly the same amount of power as the old V-8 engine did.

“It’s pretty clear that the V-8 is on its way out of the mainstream,” noted Ford’s chairman, William Clay Ford, Jr.

Ford executives say that they regularly agonized over whether or not they should drop V-8 engines from some of their car lines—most recently debating what should go under the hood of the new Lincoln MKS sedan, which débuts this summer. In the end, the new turbocharged direct-fuel-injected 6-cylinder engine—a type of engine Ford dubs “EcoBoost,” in a move directed to today’s buyers concerned about fuel efficiency—won out.

Mark Fields, Ford’s president for the Americas, explained, “I worked on the Lincoln Continental program 20 years ago, and people were vehement that it had to have a V-8. But now people don’t really care if the performance is there.”

Some say that automakers are merely dealing with consumer’s shifting tastes—after all, sales of V-8 engines have dropped 24% since 2004.

But it’s clear that meeting the new fuel economy standards also has played a role. GM recently killed a $300 million project to develop a new V-8, citing the new federal fuel-economy standard that mandates a 40% increase in fuel efficiency by 2020. “That cancellation was a direct result of the 35-mile-per-gallon legislation,” GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz stated.

Asian automakers, like Honda, have stayed away from V-8s entirely; Toyota makes a V-8 for some of its large pickups and SUVs, but uses smaller engines in its mid-sized cars.

The passing of the V-8 from the stage is bittersweet for boomers such as Mr. Ford, the great-grandson of the company’s founder, Henry Ford. “We all grew up when the coolest guy on the block had the most cubic inches under the hood,” he said. “That feeling dies hard.”

via The New York Times