Ford will launch a new 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine in the UK early next year.

The new engine, which has been developed by UK engineers, will be available in the Focus and will produce 123bhp, while delivering 56.5mpg and CO2 emissions of 114g/km.

A 98bhp version of the same engine will deliver 109g/km CO2. The 1.0-litre engine will look to rival 1.6-litre engines in the market.

This engine will also feature in the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max, plus the new B-Max which enters production in mid-2012.

Ford has invested £110 million to develop a line at its Cologne engine plant to build the engine. The plant’s 870 employees will build up to 350,000 units a year of the new engine.

European production capacity could increase to up to 700,000 units per year as production of the small EcoBoost engine at Cologne is joined by Ford’s new engine plant in Craiova, Romania, in early 2012.

In the years ahead, Ford anticipates production to expand outside of Europe to deliver global capacity of up to 1.3 million 1.0-litre EcoBoost engines per year.