Car manufacturers like to drop a concept car on the automotive industry from time to time; a car that communicates their new design language and direction. Whilst most concept cars will never hit the open road, their job is to generate excitement for the brand.
Ford, which took the wraps off of its Evos concept car last week, even has names for its design languages or themes. Back in Y2K they had
New Edge, the same theme that gave us the AU Falcon… if you don’t know it by name you surely know it by face:
Yes, New Edge was fugly.
Then from about 2005 Ford moved into
Kinetic Design which helped make things look better. The current Falcon (below) is a prime example.
Ford’s latest theme, Kinetic 2, demonstrates an eagerness to stand out from the mundane. Traditionally ‘world cars’ like the Ford Focus, for example, have erred on the safe side of styling to ensure mass appeal, but the Evos packs a fair amount of aggression up in its grill and suggests that we might see ballsier styling on the road soon. Oh—I do hope so!
As we do subconsciously with real faces, we all look at the ‘face’ of a car and within seconds, we make up our minds on what kind of car we think it is and whether or not we like it. Using this facet of design, car companies can tailor cars to appeal to men (aggressive faces) or women (kind/cute faces) and even to various cultures. Here's an interesting article on the
car faces that Americans prefer.
The Evos’ raked forward ‘mouth’ draws a fair amount of influence from Aston Martin’s own trademark grille. That’s quite tidy of course, because Ford owns a part of that luxury marque too.
Flanking the grille are some rather serious eyes that suggest determination and cunning. The LED headlights feature some beautiful directional line details that almost appear to be eye lashes (sorry to labour the facial features analogy, but it’s true).
All together these features form a no-time-for-bullshit face that you might not wish to see in your rear-view mirror. It’s amazing how much bullshit you can extrapolate from the face of a car.
The front spoiler and brake intake ducts are sculptural, demonstrating a maturation of the original, more angular Kinetic theme. Some of my favourite details on the car are the running lights that are packed around the rim of the ducts. If this doesn’t scream Tron Legacy to you then remind me to punch your lights out! See what I did there?
Aston Martin’s influence doesn’t end with the grille either, if you compare the rear fender and C-pillar on the Evos (above right) with that of the Aston Martin DB9 (above left), you begin to get the idea that Ford is hoping to borrow some of the Aston’s heritage. In fact, the whole window assembly could have been copied over.
Overall, the Evos’ body styling is muscular (without the beef) and in silhouette evokes Audi’s S5 and TT with bulges in all the right places. This is new territory for the generally conservative Ford.
According to Ford’s design chief, J Mays, the Evos represents the paradigm shift in what customers are demanding. "They… have an insatiable appetite for premium design. And by premium I don't just mean expensive design but vehicles and products that look premium," says Mays.
The most striking features of the Evos, however, are its gullwing doors. Whilst this type of door isn’t that unusual on a concept car, having four of them certainly is. A nice touch is how the rear doors include the entire rear fender panel. That may not seem practical, but when both front and rear doors are lifted, the interior is completely opened up without a B-pillar. Don’t expect to see these wings on a production Ford anytime soon.
The interior is sparse, but benefits from clean, uninterrupted lines that arc from the front of the cabin to the rear. The dash envelops the driver to form a futuristic, cocoon-like cockpit. Touch-sensitive controls are backlit in various shades of blue.
The pretty instrument display, sitting behind the very sporty steering wheel, reminds me of the current BP ‘diamond starburst’ logo, only in blue. That’s not a bad thing either; BP’s logo is one of the nicest big corporate logos out there at the moment.
The interior features some nice bits of tech too. The backs of the front bucket seats feature LCD displays for the rear passengers and the car is connected with the outside world (which might be a nice entry point for hackers) to deliver entertainment media, weather, traffic and road information. Maybe it’s running on Android?
By checking your calendar the car can also predict when you will return and will automatically heat or cool the interior to a comfortable temperature before you arrive. Smells like HAL3000, doesn’t it… Dave? Be sure to watch the tech demo video below.
Importantly, the Evos is a statement car beyond its pretty exterior—it’s also a hybrid. The front-drive Evos uses a 2Lt 4 cylinder petrol engine combined with an electric motor/Li-Ion battery that is actually due to go into production in 2013. It is said to have a range of 800km. This reaffirms Ford’s commitment to alternative powertrains.
During the unveiling event, Ford’s VP of global product development, Derrick Kuzak had said the Evos brings together “three key elements which are at the core of [Ford’s] global product strategy: outstanding design, smart technologies and fuel economy leadership.” It’s this last point that is most profound—fuel economy is now a pillar of product design.
The Evos’ style template is going to appear sooner than you might expect. According to J Mays, we should see a production car by the end of 2011. Whilst I hope the committees, spreadsheeting bean counters and engineers haven’t diluted the Evos’ design legacy too much, Ford is clearly talking a fresh design language and I like what I hear.
Videos
The Evos trailer...
Technology... wow, what can't this car do?
Design wankiness...