So smaller engines get better fuel economy - big surprise, right? Ford has recently been making a lot of noises about a transition to smaller engines based around their EcoBoost twin-turbo technology, but today the company is saying they'll be going four-pot in every car and crossover they offer by 2013.

Turning big power out of a little engine courtesy of turbochargers is nothing new, but doing it in cars that have traditionally had V6s or V8s under the hood is, for American carmakers anyway. Plans for the four-cylinder EcoBoost Fusion were just released late last year. Ford is jumping in with both feet, however, planning sales of 750,000 EcoBoost engines by 2013. Some of the new four-cylinders will not be turbos, however.

"We're all about the smaller displacement as a way to drive significant fuel economy without sacrificing performance," said Derrick Kuzak, Ford's global group VP of product development, reports Automotive News.

Once all those four-cylinders are in the wild, V8s will only have homes in pickups, larger SUVs and the Mustang, according to Kuzak, though V8s are expected to fade even in those applications as the weight of government regulation presses down harder.

Most fans would like to see EcoBoost V6s dropped into the sportier versions of the Mustang, and many would probably find them - or their four-cylinder brethren - a welcome sight in the Ranger, or even the F-150.