Ford Evos coupe revealed
Ford Evos coupe revealed Amazing four-door gullwing Evos points to the look of next Mondeo
It’s the new face of Ford – a striking four-door, four-seater sports coupe that lays down a masterplan for the way the firm’s cars of tomorrow will look.
The head-turning Evos features incredible gullwing doors, a fuel-sipping petrol-electric hybrid powerplant and cutting-edge infotainment systems. But most importantly of all, it drops the biggest hint yet at how the all-new Mondeo family car – due to make its debut next year – is shaping up.
The Evos concept will be the star of Ford’s Frankfurt Motor Show stand in September, and is the first example of the company’s all-new Kinetic 2 global design language. This latest family face is the result of a collaboration between the company’s design studios around the world, and it will dictate how upcoming Ford models, such as the Mondeo and S-MAX, will look. It could also point to a much-rumoured coupe, too.
We’ve already seen glimpses of Kinetic 2 in the Vertrek, which will replace the Kuga SUV, but the Evos moves Kinetic a further step forward.
It has distinctive proportions, with the 4.5-metre body slightly longer than that of a Focus. Yet the car is nearly as broad as a Lamborghini Aventador – it’s 1.97 metres wide – and almost as low as an Audi TT at 1.36 metres.
At the front, the new signature trapezoidal Ford grille is mounted in a prominent, high position. Extremely slim ‘laser cut’ front headlights with LEDs are another key feature designed to give a characterful, upmarket look.
Deep slashes in the lower part of the nose house spotlights, while a sporty splitter and small air intake complete the new face.
Elsewhere, the design is all about bold surfacing – just look at the raised bonnet bulge and the sculpted flanks – and with relatively short overhangs and a fastback tail, it’s a taut and sporty look that we could see easily being translated on to forthcoming models.
One feature that won’t be carried over, of course, is the gullwing door layout, which uses four individual openings. The front ‘wings’ incorporate the slim windscreen A-pillars and part of the bonnet, while those at the back lift most of the rear bodywork up and away as they open. Inside, the Evos is built around the driver. The layout features clean, simple surfaces with a slim upper instrument panel and bold trapezoidal cut-outs. Contrasting these shapes are curvy sweeps either side of the driver, providing secondary information about car and infotainment systems.
Individual touchscreens in the rear allow passengers to control functions such as seat adjustment, while up front, the driver sits in a bold red seat and enjoys the very latest version of Ford’s SYNC in-car connectivity system. This combines music streaming with info about traffic, weather and road conditions.
The idea is that the owner can focus on driving, as the Evos communicates with the outside world. It can automatically heat or cool the cabin before anyone gets on board, reroute the car to avoid areas of heavy pollution and congestion and update the chassis, steering and engine settings using sat-nav to read the road ahead and prepare for the demands likely to be put upon it. Under the bonnet, the Evos is designed to use the same petrol-electric powertrain as the Ford C-MAX Energi hybrid, which is due on sale in the UK in 2013.
This combines a 2.0-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, running off lithium-ion batteries, to drive the front wheels. The system allows the engine and electric motor to work together or separately to maximise efficiency – Ford says the Evos has a range of up to 500 miles.
It can also run solely on electricity, and plugs into the mains to top up. There are no official performance figures, but the 250bhp combined output should give 0-60mph in seven seconds and 60mpg economy.
Ford says there are no plans to build the Evos, but design boss J Mays said: “The first fruit of this vision will be ready in four months’ time,” at the Detroit Motor Show in January. This is thought to be the production Vertrek.
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