After showing a design language reaching its maturity at this year’s Detroit show, with the Ford Vertrek concept car previewing the upcoming next generation Ford Kuga, the carmaker surprised everyone with a beautiful concept car heading for the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Ford Evos Concept, a coupe which, according to rumors, could be a preview of a reborn Capri.
The Ford Evos Concept is an coupe, with a steep rear part, an aggressive front fascia and which is also very elegant at the same time with the slick headlights. But don’t be fooled by the car’s appearance, because it has four scissor doors and the rear doors also integrate the rear fenders, an impressive solution applied by Ford which will most likely be gone on the production version.
The interior is like most concepts we’ve seen, with a futuristic theme and Ford designers focused on creating an advanced communication system between the car’s passengers. Besides that, the main computer adjusts the other systems in the car to the driver’s preferences, the car being able to study and learn his or hers behavior. This innovation Ford calls “cloud connectivity” and it combines the driver’s personal details (preferences, driving style, communication, etc.) with data from the external environment (traffic conditions, weather or the driver’s schedule), the result being a true in-car life experience. Basically, the car becomes more of a personal assistant whose purpose is to make life easier for the person driving it. But the other passengers aren’t ignored, because, for example, rear passenger can use displays integrated into the front seats and the central console doesn’t feature storing spaces or different control, but a large display-command center.
But if by reading these you think the Ford Evos Concept is nothing more than a larger gadget, you’re wrong, because the vehicle is also focused on high-end technology resulting in performance and efficiency. The suspension system, the steering or the brakes, are all electronically supervised by a system that “predicts” road conditions after checking the weather, the traffic and the info received from the satellite navigation system. The Evos also features a system that monitors the driver and adjusts the car’s control to his or hers condition and an advanced air filtering system that removes all allergenic factors.
As for the powertrain, the press release mentions that the Ford Evos is powered by the same plug-in hybrid technology behind the upcoming Ford C-Max Energi, combining a regular combustion petrol engine with an electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. And Ford claims that thanks to the “cloud connectivity” system which adjusts the car to the road conditions, the Evos has a maximum range of 800 km (around 500 miles), an impressive number for a hybrid car.
Overall, the new Ford Evos Concept is an amazing package of technology concentrated around the driver and it’s an amazing vision from Ford’s engineers and designers. Let’s hope that if this model never sees daylight (and it will probably not), at least some of these amazing features will make their way into production cars soon.