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  The 5-litre V8 "Coyote" engine evolves with Australian-made inlet and exhaust systems and Harrop Engineering supercharger.

The bragging rights for V8s are back with the Blue house after Ford Performance Vehicles this week launched its latest engine...

and topped arch-rival HSV in the numbers game.

The 5.0-litre V8 begins life as the US-sourced "Coyote" engine kit, but FPV engineers spent nearly $40 million to develop Australian-made inlet and exhaust systems and top it off with a Harrop Engineering-designed Eaton TVS supercharger fitted in the engine block.

The resulting "Miami" mill is so good that Prodrive, which holds a 51 per cent stake in FPV, hopes to export it for use in high-performance Fords in the 'States, where it attracted interest while undergoing compliance testing as the newest member of the global Ford product line.

The engine will be fitted to FPV cars from October in two specifications: a 315kW/545Nm version for the base GS model and a recalibrated 335kW/560Nm unit for the top-spec GT. That compares with 317kW/550Nm in most HSV models and 325kW/550Nm in the range-topping GTS, but the FPV models will undercut the Commodore-based cars on price.

Prodrive managing director Bryan Mears says the GS will sell in the "mid-$50,000s" with the GT to come in "just on $70,000''. HSV's entry-level GXP sells for $61,900.

"Just because we've got the greatest engine in Australia doesn't mean we've got the greatest price point," Mears says. He adds that despite holding a power edge, FPV won't indulge in a numbers war with HSV.

"We're not about the numbers on the back of the car ... I don't think we're in a space where we're going to be chasing what our competitors are doing," he notes. He also dismisses suggestions more power will encourage hoon behaviour, while linking the engine's "bloodlines" to the legendary GT-HO.

"I reject the notion that the people who buy these vehicles are irresponsible," he says. "If you look at some of the performance cars coming out of Europe, we are not out of step with the power figures or torque figures.''

FPV general manager Rod Barrett says potential owners are encouraged to learn how to drive their machines properly.

"Everybody who buys an FPV will get a drive day with John Bowe Driving," he says. "A lot of our owners are the type who check the weather forecast before taking their cars out of the garage, so that gives a good idea of how they value their cars.''

NUTS AND BOLTS

The Miami engine is the result of three years of research and development after FPV engineers determined it was too costly to make the outgoing 5.4-litre engine Euro IV-compliant. Marketing continuity means it will be sold with Boss badging to maintain the link, but that, and the eight cylinders, is where the resemblance ends.

The alloy-block engine is 47kg lighter than the 5.4, even with the 13kg supercharger mounted between the banks. Prodrive powertrain and chassis head Bernie Quinn says a lower-tech but larger capacity engine and a twin-turbo set-up on the Coyote were both considered.

"When we looked at the Coyote as a straight fit into the engine bay it ticked a lot of the boxes, but we came to the conclusion that engine in an 1800-odd kilo body (the base Coyote produces 307kW and 530Nm) was not going to tick the box of meeting FPV customers performance expectations," he says.

"We didn't want to invest all the money that Bryan had allocated to us and have sand kicked in our face by our opposition in any way, shape or form, so we went down the route of forced induction.''

The meetings in the US involved some meetings with Ford Racing and it turned out Ron Harrop was already providing Ford Racing with blower kits.

"Sitting in Detroit and finding out someone in Preston is supplying superchargers is quite ironic.''

Bernie Quinn says FPV worked hard to produce a distinctive V8 sound, which is one of the reasons why the sedan is fitted with an active exhaust system to comply with noise emission standards while still producing the meatiest allowable V8 burble. The intake system has been specially developed to eliminate resonance and excess whine from the blower, with tuned length intake runners and a high-flow cold air intake system.

"It's an engineer's wet dream in terms of airboxes," Quinn says.

But FPV officials writhe like "Dancing with the Stars" contestants when asked if the Miami engine could form the basis for a modern-day GT-HO.

Prodrive boss Bryan Mears suggests the latest FPV will be a spiritual successor to the car that defines local muscle car performance, and is happy to draw parallels between the "bloodlines" of the iconic car and his latest toy, but steers wide of any talk of  a rebirthed HO.

FPV chief Rod Barrett is more direct. "We've now got the tools, but categorically there's no plan for a GT-HO."

It's just a hard comment to believe from a very smart marketer who's on record as saying he'd like to build just that car.

And there's still no guarantee FPV will continue to build Falcons. Mears says the business plan to recover engine development costs is more than five years, but that's not to say the Miami engine won't slot into the engine bay of whatever large-car platform Ford decides to go with as part of its OneFord global strategy.