FoMoCo's soon-to-be-sold to China's Geely Motors Volvo brand is expanding its range of gasoline engines with the presentation of the all-new 2.0-liter GTDi (Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection) that will initially find its way under the hood of the S80 sedan, V70 estate and XC60 compact SUV models.
Even though Volvo did not mention anything about Ford, we suspect that the new four-cylinder unit that combines turbocharging technology and direct injection with twin variable camshafts, is either the same engine or heavily based on FoMoCo's new 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine that will be used on several cars including the European Mondeo and the Australian Falcon.
Volvo said that the new 2.0 GTDi petrol engine produces an output of 203 horsepower and 300 Nm or 221.3 lb-ft of peak torque that is sustained from 1750 rpm all the way up to 4,000 rpm.
The engine will be offered in combination with Volvo's automatic six-speed Powershift transmission or a six-speed manual gearbox
"We've succeeded in making a four-cylinder engine that is as powerful as a 2.5-litre five-cylinder unit, and it's also much more energy-efficient," said Magnus Jonsson, head of Product Development at Volvo Cars.
"One of the most important reasons behind the results is our new, patented turbo system that has been tailor-made for smaller energy-efficient engines," Jonsson added.
With this new engine and the six-speed manual gearbox, the S80 sedan accelerates from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 7.9 seconds while returning a combined fuel consumption of 7.9 lt /100km which is equal to 29.8mpg US and 35.8mpg UK.
Volvo said that the new 2.0 GTDi engine is being initially launched on markets that offer tax incentives for engines below two liters in displacement including South-East Asia, the Netherlands, China and Japan, adding that more countries/regions will follow later in the year.