Ford's New Look

'New Edge' is on its way out - curves could be back

By PH Staff / Wednesday, 20 August 2003 / Loading comments

For the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, Ford’s European design team has been working on a bespoke ‘design study’ vehicle, the Ford Visos. Bods at Ford claim that this could be one of its most important projects ever.

"We’ll be showing something very significant for us ", explained Chris Bird, Ford’s European Design Director. "We asked the team to develop a shape which not only embodies their passion and enthusiasm for cars, but which gives a clear indication of how we want Ford of Europe’s future design language to evolve ."

The result is a Design Study called Ford Visos. It is a full four-seat luxury sports car featuring innovative technologies. The model is expected to show the next step in Ford's European styling, taking it on from the current 'New Edge' design used successfully in the Focus and Mondeo (but failed with the Fiesta).

"The vehicle is very dramatic, drawing inspiration from some of the well-loved European Fords of the past ," mumbled Bird. "Yet it isn’t a retro design; rather, it takes aspects of what made those designs so emotional and wraps them into a dynamic, forward-thinking look, designed to bring a smile to your face ."

The Ford Visos is designed around space, performance, luxury and adaptability, featuring fully customisable displays, user-adaptable engine modes and ‘mood’ settings that can be adapted to suit the preferences of each individual driver.

Derrick Kuzak, Ford of Europe’s vice president of Product Development dug out a quote especially for the occasion: "This car is intended to demonstrate the blue oval’s ability to create strong emotional connections with consumers ".

Already it's led to speculation that this is the new 'Capri' - a theory that is rolled out every few years.