1.0-Liter Three-Cylinder EcoBoost Engine Being Dropped from Ford Fiesta in the U.S.

To make the death of the Ford Fiesta in the U.S. slower and more painful, Ford is dropping an engine choice for the darling subcompact, CarsDirect reports. As you may have heard, the Ford Fiesta is getting a new generation, but it isn’t coming to the United States, where the car will eventually be discontinued without a replacement.

The engine in question is the rarely-ordered 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost engine. This peppy, turbocharged fuel sipper made 123 horsepower and 148 foot-pounds of torque, and returned an impressive miles per gallon rating of 31 city/43 highway. Despite being more efficient and slightly more powerful than the standard, naturally aspirated 1.6-liter mill in the Fiesta, this diminutive EcoBoost just didn’t have enough demand to justify its continuation in the Fiesta.

Incidentally, it will continue to be offered in the bigger Ford Focus. That’s probably because the Ford Focus isn’t being discontinued here and is expected to see its fourth generation starting in 2019. As for the Fiesta, we don’t know for sure when it will leave American Ford dealers. If it’s anything like the Taurus, the model we have now will stick around for awhile while the rest of the world gets an updated version. An all-new Taurus has been for sale in China since last year while the outdated sixth-gen Taurus soldiers on in North America.

The reasons the 1.0-liter EcoBoost in the Fiesta never caught on in the U.S. are the same reasons small cars, in general, are having a hard time selling here. Cheap gas and crossover fever have spelled bad news for small, cheap, efficient cars, and that’s a shame. The good news is, it means hot deals on hot hatches like the Ford Fiesta ST.