WAR ON V8s: VOLVO TO KILL V8 OPTION?

[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]

Jalopnik is reporting that soon to be ex-Ford Volvo is canning all sorts of appealing hardware, including the V8 option for the S80.

For the time being, the Volvo V8 will remain available in the XC90 because a turbo six is not available.

While this move may seem to some as merely consolidation, in the bigger picture, it's a harbinger of what's likely to be a recurring story during the model years leading up to the draconian 35.5 m.p.g. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard in 2016.

As Truth With Speedzzter wrote on Bangshift.com regarding GM's development of an EcoBoost-fighting 3.0 twin-turbo V6:

But the overwhelming concern is probably future compliance with CAFE standards. These turbo V6s are clearly aimed at V8 territory. And some experts predict that even V6s aren't going to be very common by 2016. http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100322/OEM06/303229994/1186 & http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100322/OEM06/303229992/1186

To be sure, CAFE and the confluence of lazy marketing (the entire basis of the current EcoBoost "economy of a six with the power of a V8" campaign) and rabid beancounting is shaping up to be a "war on V8s." Just the "Cash For Clunkers" giveaway amounted to a war on vintage V8s (and a backdoor attack on hot rodding and other forms of grassroots motorsports), the current pressures against new V8s amounts to a "second front" in the Anti-V8 war.

As Truth With Speedzzter further explained at Bangshift:

If GM obtains about the same horsepower-per-liter as the EcoTec turbo/DI 2.0 (~130 hp/l), the GM 3.0 will produce around 390 h.p.

Of course Ford's initial EcoBoost engine is tuned more for quick response and a flat torque curve than maximum h.p. And reportedly FoMoCo is working on "Project Bobcat" (supplemental direct ethanol injection), which would easily crest 130 hp/l. Former FoMoCo exec Dr. Neil Ressler is involved in Ethanol Boosting Systems, L.L.C., the holder of key patents on the EBS process. http://www.ethanolboost.com/

[UPDATE: "Project Bobcat" has primarily been a government-grant subsidized research project aimed at light truck powerplants. Mike Harrison, FoMoCo's chief engineer on 5.0-liter and 6.2-liter "Boss" truck V8s, who told Autoblog Green "the 5.0-liter Bobcat was actually derived from the old 5.4-liter V8 currently used in the F150 and the Shelby GT500."

Autoblog Green further reported "For Bobcat use, the longer-stroke 5.4 was used in combination with a smaller bore giving thicker cylinder walls needed to withstand the high internal pressures of the boosted 750 pound-foot engine. According to Harrison, the Bobcat was part of a Department of Energy-funded research project and there are no current plans for a production engine based on the technology. Harrison tells us that the extra cost of the dual injection systems and more robust block and heads negates much of the savings from not needing a diesel after-treatment system."

It would appear that the Modular's FWD-oriented narrow bore centers may have scuttled another promising development. Moreover, Ford may have decided to focus more on turbo-diesels, which will not pay as many "trickle-down" dividends to hot rodders and grassroots motorsports enthusiasts as a "full-throttle" development of a "Bobcat" EBS system would]

It's unlikely that the current regime at Ford is going to get beat in a horsepower war. For example, a recent chassis dyno test of the Coyote-Powered 2011 Mustang GT yielded the following:


Quote:
"Inside Line's tester reliably belted out 395 horsepower at 6,600 RPM and 365 pound-feet of torque at 4,350 rpm. That's at the wheel, natch, and since IL estimates the 'Stang sees only an 11% to 13% driveline loss thanks to its stick axle, the car is likely making somewhere between 438 and 446 horsepower at the crank -- far more than the advertised 412.

This should come as no surprise to anyone, especially Inside Line. After all, last year they did the same thing with a 2010 GT500 only to learn that - surprise! - it was underrated. (Their tester put down 511 horsepower at the wheel. The guys figured the number at the crank to be around 570 horses, not the 540 advertised)."

IS THE COYOTE V8 THE LAST HURRAH FOR MASS-MARKET V8 POWER?

Regardless of how incredible the new DOHC Coyote V8 is (or could be in supercharged, EcoBoost or Twincharged form), the pressure of CAFE will force engine downsizing.

Uwe Grebe, General Motors executive director for global advanced engineering, told Automotive News that meeting CAFE will be costly because "everyone is done picking the low-hanging fruit." He suggests the improvements to conventional engines and drivelines will "include turbocharging, gasoline direct injection, variable valve timing, cylinder deactivation and dual-clutch transmissions. Grebe estimates that 15 to 20 percent more fuel economy can be squeezed out of conventional gasoline powertrains."

Cutting the number of cylinders will be a quick and lazy method to reduce cubic inches.

Certainly, smaller V8s that are scaled-down to equivalent cubic-inch displacement of current sixes and even fours could produce striking fuel economy along with the sounds, driving feel, and aesthetics of traditional V8. But the marketers are simply too lazy to make the sales case for up-to-date "right-sized" DOHC turbo V8s and the green-eye-shade gang is probably too cheap to fund them.

Sadly, V8s are increasingly likely to become an endangered species. They will be sacrificed for no legitimate reason on the altars of uninformed public opinion, cost cutting, and regulatory compliance.

Volvo's decision is just an early warning of this.