• Ford secured the Ecobeast title for a future powertrain with a trademark
• Ecobeast could be a high-output turbocharged powertrain
• It is unclear if Ecobeast will likely be a crate motor or in a manufacturing automobile

A brand new Ford trademark submitting hints at a higher-performance model of the automaker’s Ecoboost engines.

Ford filed a trademark software for the title Ecobeast with the United States Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on June 12. The applying applies to “electrical motors and engines for vehicles; powertrains for vehicles; turbochargers for car engines.”

Whereas electrical motors are talked about, Ecobeast is an apparent play on the Ecoboost title utilized to a household of turbocharged gasoline engines. In Ford’s present lineup, the Ecoboost title is utilized to engines starting from the 180-hp 1.5-liter turbo-3 used within the Escape to the F-150 Raptor‘s 450-hp 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6. The engine used within the final Ford GT supercar additionally had Ecoboost branding.

An F-150 Raptor with an Ecobeast engine does look like a thematically acceptable mixture, though the existence of the V-8-powered Raptor R makes a more-powerful Ecoboost/Ecobeast F-150 Raptor redundant. The wordplay would additionally work with the Bronco Raptor or Mustang Ecoboost, although, and there is extra room for extra variants of these fashions.

One other risk is a crate engine. Ford in 2021 introduced an electrical crate motor known as the Eluminator, and likewise demonstrated the restomodding prospects of this motor with an Eluminator-powered 1978 F-100 pickup truck proven at that yr’s SEMA present. Ford is more likely to stay dedicated to gasoline crate engines as nicely, leaving room for a turbocharged Ecoboost engine that might put on the Ecobeast title.

Given the closeness of the Ecobeast title to Ecoboost, it is also potential that Ford is preemptively trademarking the title to forestall others from utilizing it. Automakers do generally trademark names or variations of names simply to have management of the mental property—even when they do not have plans to make use of it.