Some time ago, the Fox declaration map of the mid-term redesign has appeared on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the "that problem" that we have been curious about for a long time has been settled.
Of course, the "question" is not whether Fox will re-use the four-cylinder engine, because after the three-cylinder system is used, the sales of The Fox are not comparable to before, so it is almost a foregone conclusion to switch to a four-cylinder engine.
So the "question" that we're curious about is: Which four-cylinder engine will the Fox use?
“CAF479WQ6”
CAF479WQ6, this string of more awkward strings than the numbers 89757 and 12138 is the engine model that the mid-term fork of the Fox will use. We can focus on the fourth character, "4" represents a four-cylinder engine. If you look at the current Focus engine model, you will find that the three-cylinder 1.5T model is CAF384WQ06, and the fourth "3" represents three cylinders.
So where is CAF479WQ6 sacred? In fact, it is a four-cylinder 1.5T engine that Ford once "abandoned", with a displacement of 1499ml, which is slightly more than 2ml more than the three-cylinder model.
This four-cylinder 1.5T was once Ford's main force, and was equipped with the previous generation of Fox, Wing Tiger and other models, and first began to serve on Mondeo in 2013, and now, only Mondeo is still using this engine before the replacement.
I thought that this engine would come with this generation of Mondeo, and then with this generation of Mondeo, but I did not expect that Fox after the mid-term redesign gave it a "continuation".
You may notice that the 1.5T engines of the previous generation of Fox, Echigo, and Mondeo are slightly different in model, and the last one has "1", "4", "5", etc. It should be pointed out that the last one is actually a version number, which means that there may be very slight differences between them, but it is basically the same thing.
Just like the more familiar BMW, there are B48B20A, B48B20B, B48B20C, B48B20D, etc., they may have differences in origin and compression ratio, but they are all B48 engines.
The CAF479WQ6 four-cylinder 1.5T engine that will be used in the mid-term fawkers will have a maximum power of 130kW in the declaration information, which is 2kW more than the current three-cylinder 1.5T, but 4kW less than the 134kW of CAF479WQ5 and CAF479WQ4.
In the absence of other data published, the maximum power parameter alone is actually not much different, after all, the gearbox responsible for transmission is also very important.
▲ This 1.5T can be traced back to the 2013 Mondeo GTDi180
We don't know what gearbox the Mid-Term Forks will carry, because the CAF479WQ series of engines were previously equipped with 6AT gearboxes, and this generation of Fox 1.5T three-cylinder version is already equipped with 8AT.
If you go back to using the 6AT, I'm afraid the scolding will not be smaller than the three-cylinder engine, and the double clutch is already Ford's "abandonment", so I guess it should still be 8AT (really pure guessing, not responsible for authenticity).
▲Manual transmission is basically free of talk
Previously, it was widely rumored on the Internet that after the Fox remodel, it would be equipped with the engine of Ford's joint venture partner Changan in China, after all, Changan's Blue Whale series engine is also a relatively new model, and the parameters are also very beautiful. However, it has always been titled "Virtual Whale Factory", and a few words are omitted here.
At this time, Fox's "virtual whale factory" engine has indeed become a false alarm, and since it was only a rumor, we will not speculate on the reasons why it was not adopted in the end.
Three cylinders are really not good to make?
In fact, Ford for the 1.5T/1.6T this displacement engine update iteration is very positive, from 1.6T four-cylinder, to 1.5T four-cylinder, and then to 1.5T three-cylinder, although the displacement is reduced, the number of cylinders is reduced, it is always easy to feel that it is reducing the cost of allocation, but this is only a surface phenomenon.
▲The 1.6T engine mounted on the Wing Tiger in the early days
In fact, after coming to the 1.5T three-cylinder, Ford has added a lot of technology that keeps pace with the times to this engine, such as adding a closed cylinder function to this three-cylinder engine, which is in line with the development trend of energy conservation and emission reduction of automotive power sources in recent years, and it is also the only technology in the same level on Fox. In addition to this, there are double injection systems and so on.
In contrast, the older four-cylinder 1.5T is naturally not so advanced, but it can still comply with the current emission regulations, otherwise Changan Ford would not be able to put it back on the Fox. As a result, the mid-term revamped Fox suddenly became special.
▲ The overseas version of the mid-term modification of Fox, the domestic version of the front face will be different
The reason why Fox took advantage of this mid-term redesign to re-install the four-cylinder engine is self-evident, in fact, when this generation of Fox was just on the market, CheRujun had already tried the 1.5T three-cylinder version.
To tell the truth, Ford's newly developed three-cylinder 1.5T is basically not stuffed in terms of running texture, but it still can't stand consumers' indifference to the three-cylinder machine.
So that a compact SUV like Ruiji should have had a 1.5T power as the entry or even the main force (there are 1.5T in the European and even American markets), and finally Changan Ford did not launch the 1.5T Ruiji because of the embarrassing situation of the three-cylinder 1.5T, starting with 2.0T. However, looking at the starting price of Ruiji 2.0T is only 169,800 yuan, it is also full of sincerity, how can it still not reproduce the glory of the Wing Tiger in the past?
Well, or else... Changan Ford also directly installed 2.0T on the Fox, anyway, now the real Fox ST has used 2.3T, to Give Chinese consumers a 2.0T "youth version" Of Fox ST, can't it be hot Oh, sell a little cheaper than Ruiji is not too much, right? (I'm kidding)
The four-cylinder "good messenger" has traces to follow
At the technical level, the new three-cylinder will naturally be better, but helplessly, the market is more willing to choose four-cylinder.
Buick Yinglang also suffered a big loss because of the switch to a three-cylinder engine, and later Buick re-launched the 1.5L four-cylinder engine Yinglang, and the practice was very simple and rude, and the same configuration of 1.5L four-cylinder and 1.3T three-cylinder models set a completely consistent price.
The 1.3T three-cylinder has 163 hp, the 1.5L four-cylinder has only 115 hp, and the NEDC's comprehensive fuel consumption is also 1.3T lower. Buick let consumers vote with practical actions without being disturbed by price factors, and as a result, in 2021, the 1.5L Yinglang sold 250,000 units, and the 1.3T sold only 10,000 vehicles. Obviously, the four-cylinder is more "easy to make":
"I don't want horsepower, I don't want to save fuel, it's all virtual, only one more cylinder is real."
But to be more specific, in fact, the three-cylinder is not good in the Chinese market, after all, the three-cylinder engine is not a big problem in foreign countries, especially in Europe. And Europe is generally the gathering place of cutting-edge automotive technology, why did the three-cylinder hit a wall in China? Is this market distorted?
The quality of the earliest three-cylinder engine operation is indeed not bad, especially the three-cylinder engine of a certain Munich luxury brand has a bad start. On the one hand, it is preconceived, on the other hand, everyone will feel that even the three-cylinder machine made by a luxury brand that you build an engine is so unbearable, the three-cylinder machine must be a demon, and prejudice has been generated.
As we all know, prejudice or negative news, its communication ability can be more powerful than Covid-19, especially for cars, a tiger is poor quality, so-and-so pull is unable to brake, so three cylinders is not OK. But how many of the people who say these words have really experienced it in depth? How many are really a voice?
In fact, I am also a cylinder superstition, every time I see the M760Li, S 65 AMG on the road, these V12 "backward products", the heart will beat a few times; I know that the eight-cylinder C 63 AMG usually has no texture, and the running track is no one's six cylinders fast, but I just don't want to see it become a four-cylinder; I also feel sorry that this generation of Audi A8 did not finally make a version of W12.
However, I don't mind that a hundred thousand grocery shopping cart is a three-cylinder car, not to mention, there are many three-cylinder cars that are not bad at all. After many years in this industry, it is not difficult to find that Chinese consumers have higher demands than European and American consumers in terms of NVH and comfort, in fact, I think this is a normal demand, and it cannot be said that this market is distorted.
The real twist is that people's three-cylinder machines have also worked hard to make them infinitely close to the level of four-cylinder machines, but you are not willing to give others a chance.
Undoubtedly, the three-cylinder engine that can be seen in the Chinese auto market will only become less and less, and those brands that maintain "cleanliness" for the three-cylinder engine in the Chinese market, you really understand the Chinese market.
Three cylinders is Fox's problem?
Then again, in exchange for a four-cylinder engine, can Fox also come back to life like Yinglang? The specific situation has to be discussed specifically, Yinglang takes the cost-effective route, and the price is in place to say anything, except for three cylinders. But Fox, well, is an athlete, and he has different ambitions.
The most sophisticated chassis in the same class is probably on the Fox, the ST Line version of the original also comes with Michelin PS4 tires, but then what? We have also said many times in past articles that Chinese consumers' pursuit of sports in the car is shallow, we do not have the culture of driving off the track on the weekend, even if it is running on the mountain, most people just drive the car to a certain place on the mountain road and then stop to take a photo and send a circle of friends.
For the perception of the driving level of the car, at most it stays on who accelerates faster. To put it bluntly, fox such a sophisticated and powerful sports car, most Chinese consumers are not blessed. For almost the same price, they can buy more than 7 seconds to break the hundred "rotten boy supercar", space can also make the family satisfied, who cares about what CVT gearbox?
In fact, this is also a manifestation of market demand, although the demand of mainland consumers for hundreds of thousands of cars is quite different from that of European consumers, but we can not give the conclusion that "the market is distorted", after all, the car environment is indeed different.
On the contrary, we think that the people who choose Fox today are those who have a deeper understanding of driving, who understand the essence of Fox. For such a crowd, the three-cylinder machine may not be a roadblock, but there are not many such people. Instead of replacing the 1.5T three-cylinder with a four-cylinder, Changan Ford may wish to consider the suggestion of the rut jun and make a 2.0T Fox, which is a greater blessing for Fox enthusiasts.
I think that in terms of Fox's product orientation and product strength, it should at least be on an equal footing with the two same cars of the same class as Lynk & Co 03 and Mazda 3 Axela in terms of sales to be considered a normal and qualified performance, that is, it should sell about 80,000 vehicles a year, while Fox's performance of less than 23,000 vehicles last year has a big gap.
Perhaps Changan Ford should take advantage of this rebranding, in addition to replacing the four-cylinder engine, it should also make more efforts in price configuration and publicity packaging.
Issue 1827
Author: Chen Houze