Evos takes Ford design forward
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DETROIT -- The Evos concept, which will be shown at the Frankfurt auto show next week, represents an evolution of Ford's so-called kinetic design language and aims to give the next generation of the Ford brand's global cars a more premium appearance.
While the car will look more premium, pricing will continue to stress value, J Mays, the automaker's global design chief, said at a media briefing.
"We have a new generation of customers around the world, and they are fascinated with technology, which we happen to be working on quite a lot," Mays said.
"They also have an insatiable appetite for premium design. And by premium I don't just mean expensive design, but vehicles and products that look premium," he said. "We want to give the mainstream customer the feel of luxury."
Mays said the first production car to adopt the new styling cues will be unveiled in four months, presumably at the Detroit auto show.
The Evos concept has four gull-wing doors, and it is about the length of a Ford Focus and the width of a Fusion. The concept has a plug-in hybrid powertrain. The Evos' styling cues will not appear on the Mustang or the F-150, which are regional vehicles, Mays said.
He said the evolution of the Ford brand's styling will be based on six pillars: silhouette innovation, perceived efficiency, refined surface language, technical graphics, the new face of Ford and an overall premium look.
Explaining what he meant by "technical graphics," Mays pointed to the industry trend to make headlight modules larger.
"They have become less about technology and more about design or style," he said. "We think that has reached its complete evolution. So we are going to the minimal legal height on headlamps and taillights. We will let the technology speak for the graphics as opposed to overt style."
Mays said future Fords will show a new face, with a one-piece grille instead of the two-piece grilles found on the current generation of global Fords.
"It makes the car, I think, much more premium because the inverted trapezoid is higher on the grille, giving the car more presence, more status. Overall it gives it a more expensive look," he said.
The concept is the work of Ford's design studio in Cologne, Germany, with input from the company's global design team.
