This Ford Puma ST Powershift From Europe Has The Most Powerful 1-litre Ecoboost, The Engine That Made Ecosport An Icon

After Ford’s departure from India, one of the carmaker’s many iconic engines, the 1-litre Ecoboost turbo-petrol unit, continues to live on in Ford Europe cars. This engine was part of the reason for the Ford Ecosport’s popularity in India, all the way up until the carmaker ended the local production of its cars. 

Overseas in Europe, Ford has recently introduced a new variant of its Puma crossover called the Puma ST Powershift. It gets a mild-hybrid powertrain, a first for Ford’s ST-badged models (Puma, Fiesta and Focus), with the most powerful 1-litre Ecoboost engine at its core. 

Most powerful 1-litre Ecoboost engine ever

The Puma ST Powershift is tuned for performance and gets a rigid chassis from the Puma ST and stiffer suspension components than the standard crossover. It also has better brakes, patented torque-vectoring springs and frequency-reactive dampers for a balanced ride and handling package. 

Understandably, it also gets a souped-up 1-litre Ecoboost engine developed by Ford’s Performance division. It makes 170PS and 248Nm combined with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system and is paired with a seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission. The Puma Powershift can race from nought to 100kmph in 7.4 seconds – quicker than cars with larger turbo-petrol engines. For comparison, the 1.5-litre TSI (turbo-petrol) Volkswagen Virtus GT has a 9-second 0-100kmph time and its 150PS output is 20PS lower than the Puma Powershift despite the 1.5 TSI engine’s larger displacement. 

Ford’s 1-litre Ecoboost engine first arrived in the Ecosport subcompact SUV in India with a then-impressive output of 123PS. In the Puma ST Powershift, the 1.0 Ecoboost has a specific output (horsepower per litre of engine displacement) of 170PS/litre that’s neck and neck with BMW’s 3-litre M TwinPower engine in the M4 Competition sports coupe. Only a select few engines get higher specific outputs, none higher than the Mercedes-AMG A 45S that makes a whopping 210PS/litre (421PS total) from its 2-litre turbo-petrol engine.

However, in Europe, an even more powerful Puma ST continues to be offered with a 1.5-litre Ecoboost turbo-petrol engine that makes 200PS and 320Nm. Nevertheless, the Puma ST Powershift will likely outlast its ICE-only sibling and still offer a rorty exhaust note: 

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With the Ford Puma ST Powershift, the iconic 1-litre Ecoboost engine has achieved a new level of performance using mild-hybrid tech to boost efficiency. Now, is it time to do something similar for the 1-litre TSI engine, Volkswagen?