Well, I hate to parse words, here, but I think the most accurate statement is that a lot of the initial engineering was contracted to Porsche, and that Porsche built a prototype. I think the production Duratec is considerably different than that prototype, and, ultimately, designed by Ford engineers with a lot of foundational work from Porsche. The Porsche design was not accepted whole-hog, in other words. That's what I gather to be Terry's meaning, though I could be wrong on some level.
Now for the tidbit of the day:
Porsche has been building sports cars for a long time, and they've produced some bulletproof engines, but they've also had some "exotic" problems. When they pushed the magnesium flat-6 to 2.7 liters, they started having cooling issues, and 911s were blowing engines with regularity at 50,000 miles. The later 16v 944S had head issues, as well, again likely the result of pushing a powerplant too far. Non-turbo 944s are interference designed, and also have waterpump issues. Many owners replace the waterpump with the timing belt every 30,000 miles.
I only bring this up as a counterpoint to the usual thinking that "if only stupid Ford had accepted the Porsche design, we wouldn't have problem x or y." That may or may not be true, IMHO, and yet my enthusiasm for 944s and 2.7l 911s isn't dampened a bit.
