Ford's Evos concept. Image: Ford Motor Company
I’ll give you the bad news up front: the stunning concept car you see here, the Ford Evos, won’t ever see production. No matter how badly you want to buy one, no amount of letter writing, begging or pleading will get this car into a Ford dealer any time soon. Ford is debuting the Evos at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and it will undoubtedly be making the global auto show circuit in the coming year.
Image: Ford Motor Company
Now the good news: the Evos is a styling exercise, meant to represent Ford’s new global design language. You can’t buy the Evos, but every Ford penned from this point forward will borrow (in some cases, heavily) from the styling pioneered on the Evos. The inverted trapezoid grille, dubbed the “new face of Ford,” has already been seen on the upcoming Ford Focus Electric and the much-anticipated Ford Focus ST.
Image: Ford Motor Company
Other design elements that Ford will use moving forward include minimized roof pillars and aerodynamic designs that make the car look “light on its feet,” silhouette innovation to distinguish Ford’s profile from competitors, refined surface styling to add subtle detail (and perceived quality) and minimized headlamps and tailights (which Ford calls “technical graphics”).
Image: Ford Motor Company
Since the Evos is a concept car, it also pushes the boundaries of existing automotive technology. It’s powered by a plug-in hybrid drivetrain (although no specifications for power or performance were given) and it uses cloud computing to ensure the driver has the same access to information as he would at home or in the office. The Evos monitors a driver’s health as well, and can remind you when you’re too tired to drive or alert you if a sudden medical condition is detected.
Image: Ford Motor Company
While some of the styling elements are a bit over the top (like the four gull-wing doors. for example), overall the Evos is a styling home run for Ford. It appears to be influenced by Aston Martin’s current designs, but copies none of them. Stare at the Evos long enough, and you’ll see new interpretations of existing Ford styling; the bold character lines used on the doors come from the Mustang, and you can see a bit of the current Ford Taurus in the front end.
Image: Ford Motor Company
There’s more good news, too: J Mays, Ford’s group vice president of design, tells us to look for a new model release, heavily influenced by the Evos concept, in four months time. That’s just about the right timing for the 2012 North American International Auto Show, and it’s just about when we expect to see the introduction of the Ford Focus ST. We’ll be counting down the days.
Source: Ford
