Ford's iosis concept - four door gullwing

– Ford has unveiled the striking iosis concept car – a vehicle that defines an exciting new design direction for Ford of Europe. Building on the style of the Ford SAV Concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, iosis demonstrates Ford's new 'kinetic design' philosophy. The car will debut at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. "iosis is more than just a show car, it is sending a message about how Ford of Europe's future design will be defined,” says Martin Smith, Ford of Europe's Executive Design Director. "It sends a bold message because our future products will be bold."

Energy in motion

With 'kinetic design', the Ford of Europe design team has embraced the marque’s core values in an expressive, new design language. iosis expresses this language in its ultimate form. Kinetic design visualises Ford's acclaimed driving quality – it expresses energy in motion.

The foundation for this new design language is modern vehicle architectures derived from Ford's 'shared technologies' strategy. Designers now have the freedom to develop very different models and designs from these shared component sets. 'iosis' demonstrates how the same component set used for the SAV Concept shown at Geneva can be applied to an entirely different type of vehicle.

In the case of iosis this language is applied in its most muscular form as expressed by the full surfaces spanning taut, dynamic feature lines. Strong shoulders supported by sharply defined undercut lines further support this muscular stance.

To emphasise the athletic proportions of the body the principal surfaces are precisely sculptured, which is most evident from above when a clearly defined three plane plan view can be identified. At the front this elimination of imprecise rounded forms has the effect of visually shortening the front overhang. Contributing further to these athletic, sculptural forms are the well defined wheelarch lips that have become a familiar Ford design signature since they appeared originally on the Ford Focus.

Overlaid on these well defined sculptural forms are clearly recognisable graphic elements. Prominent among these is the distinctive daylight opening area with its characteristic upward tick at the rear. On iosis the new face of Ford is represented by the familiar Ford graphic of an inverted trapezoid air intake, in this case placed below a bold, chromed grille.

Strongly drawn lamp graphics at front and rear are further identifiable elements with the headlamps also echoing the upward tick seen in the DLO. The precise detailing of the rear lamps and the chamfered lower corners of the rear glass combine to form another clearly identifiable graphic that defines the rear of the car.

This complex surfacing and careful attention to graphic forms contributes to the tense, muscular stance of iosis. This is enhanced by precise detailing that is evident in the jewel-like featuring in the lamps and the wide, strong rocker panels. Exciting, new wheel designs with design cues drawn from the graphic elements seen elsewhere on the car are a final, vital element of the overall 'kinetic design' story. On 'iosis' this feature is expressed in a typically strong way with 20-inch wheels, milled from solid aluminium billets, featuring a contrasting polished and anodised finish that accentuates their three dimensional design.

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