Wednesday, March 01, 2006

FoMoCo Concepts from recent years, The Good The Bad and the Stupid

The SynUs concept, someone at Ford should have been fired for this one. An urban/youth vehicle, it looks like a Brinks truck that got left in the wash too long and shrunk. This was just a STUPID idea. There is no excuse for it, what the hell were they thinking?
A Mild hit on the show circuit, and it may have gotten the nod. I like this one.
The Model U, at first I hated it, the whole idea of a "recyclable car" did little to excite me. And that eggshell white color doesn't really inspire any emotion. But it's not offensive. It's the type of thing that could grow on you, if they got all the details right.
This is the second Fortynine concept, the first was a black hardtop, that looked like a 49 Ford business coupe updated with big rims and everything smooth. I loved the two of them. They were on the T-Bird/Lincoln LS chassis, and while I acknowledge they have limited apeal, I want one.
Of course my new obsession, the Reflex. Built on Ford's B Segment chassis, with a Diesel Electric Hybrid system that gave it all wheel drive and an odd 2+1 seating arrangement. Get rid of the complicated drivetrain, and single rear seat, and build it ASAP.
The new Ranger for the rest of the world? May be built in Thailand, and possibly imported to the US? I like the styling and of course the crew cab. Let's see what the future holds for Ranger.
The SuperChief concept for the next gen of SuperDuty trucks? Has a supercharged Hydrogen V10 that Ford has been testing in shuttle buses, so never say never. It's probably one of the least offensive large truck concepts I've seen.
I must have missed this one in 2003, the Faction B-Segment coupe/mpv? At first I hated it, then it grew on me, and now I see Dodge getting applause for their Hornet concept and wonder why this couldn't go head to head with that. Again built on Fiesta mechanicals. It could be fun.
The Iosis, the future face of Ford in Europe. What can I say? It's graceful and sleek and the proportions seem just right. It should have come here. We get "Dave" and Europe gets this, what's wrong with Ford?

The Fairlane MPV looks like a go to replace the Ford FreeStar mini van. The more I look at it, it reminds me of a MINI on steroids. It could just be the white roof. I like it, it's kind of bland, but not ugly.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What would Ford become without a new Ranger pickup for the new millennium ?
Hope they know what they are doing !
The S-Max already got some good comments on the Geneva show !
PhilCo126

Anonymous said...

I actually like the SynUs concept. It reminds me of the early '70's Broncos if it had the same durability I'd buy one in a heartbeat.