DeluxeStang

There were some additional images, but it was an f-150 shape under the cover.

Let me have this 😆

A wrc hatchback in 2/4 door form could give Ford an in when it comes to offering a smaller, lighter, maybe more affordable sporty model to appeal to enthusiasts beyond the mustang. Such of model could really resonate with European enthusiasts. I don't know if it would have legs in the N. American market, but I'd buy one of the price was right.

You're saying to have a shorter wheelbase with better agility in tighter corners?

Interesting, the back of the cab doesn't seem to have much of an angle, maybe that's an add on aero cab extension you can buy as an extra accessory to extend range instead of a part of the standard design.

You rang?

We got a close up of a quarter panel and cab under a tarp. I'll take it! The beltline looks a little lower than the mules which many of us speculated. You can see a bump out, likely for the door handles, it looks lower than what I was expecting.

With cars getting more expensive and reliable, it means people are holding onto cars longer. I wish more designers thought about that, and focused more on unique, but more effortless and timeless designs. It's something Ford and Mazda do very well imo. Bronco, mustang, explorer, truck, all of their designs look good decades later. The 5th gen explorer still looks modern and classy when something like a traverse or pathfinder from the same era doesn't. It's because Ford finds a really good balance of interesting, and timeless. Kia and Hyundai found that for a time, mostly when they were ripping off European styling, like a 2011 optima still looks pretty nice and stylish. But it feels like they've gotten away from that to go for a quirkier design style, and it misses more than it hits imo.

The issue I have with this design is the same issue a lot of designs have right now. It's that they're trendy, and weird for the sake of being weird. Look at the blacked out trim. Normally you have body colored top section, and then a blacked out lower section. This has a body color, then a blacked out section, then another body colored section sandwiching it. I've never seen that before in this particular way. It looks unique, but I don't think it looks good. Contrast is often used to shrink visual mass, hide some of the heft. But a lot of people don't like the black plastic look. This, you have body color down to the bottom of the doors, so it doesn't really shrink the beltine as effectively. Yet you see have the over the top cladding. It's almost like the worst of both worlds.

Yeah the looks worse imo than the original pics, and worse than the current tuscon which I've always said looks good. This is just, it's ok.

He's also claiming Lincoln essentially lost its UEV. Not quite, but moved out so far it feels that way. The Lincoln UEV is now coming in 2034 apparently. But he said Ford is adding more Ford branded UEV models, including an additional sub-conpact utility.

Don't give me hope like this 😆. I don't see there being much of a market for most 2 door products these days beyond mustang and maybe bronco, but maybe Ford could be bringing back more options, who knows. If they brought out a 2 door escort, I'd be throwing money at them. Might even buy it before I bought a mustang at a later point.

It'll probably be some half-assed BS in the end, but I wanna believe lol.

We're in agreement that it all comes down to execution. If it just ends up being a jelly bean with rally lights and FWD, I'm gonna be disappointed. But if this new hatchback, likely a fiesta revival, has the boxy retro fun styling that the reno 5 has, maybe a throwback to the gen 1 boxy fiesta, with sporty lines, wheel arches, decent power for the size, and really fun handling, I'll be all over it.

Ya cheeky little bugga 😆. Nah I mean the rally racing applies to passenger cars strategy. The icons strategy is really solid, but I think Ford is realizing they need to look at icons that go just beyond bronco, mustang, raptor, and trucks. Those are super solid pillars, but there's room to grow behind that. If you're looking at how to make your passenger cars special without branding everything a mustang or bronco, leaning into your established rally racing heritage for additional credability and inspiration is a smart place to start.

I do believe there's a market for people who want the practicality of a truck, but not the traditional look, size, or performance of a truck. How big of a market there is, it's hard to say, def. small, but it's there. Would be cool to see Ford leverage the mustang platform to tap into that.

Probably not, but there's probably a ton of stuff from the late 2010s and early 2020s that we never saw. All the stuff that got canceled, especially under Farley. A lot of it had to have been in the design sketch and clay modeling stages, wish we could see it.

The exact vehicles might not come to the US, but the strategy might. The skunkworks facility was working on some sort of hot hatch with a rally racing old escort in the corner for inspiration.

I understand the cynicism, but let's just see where it goes. If nothing else, it's a kickass idea if they really commit to it. Farley in his interview with top gear said they didn't just want this to be a case of great steering and handling for a fiesta, but the car was still a base fiesta. So it sounds like whatever they're cooking up might push the envelope a little further than what we saw with things like the fiesta st. Time will tell.

I agree it wouldn't happen as a 2 door. But stretch it slightly and give it a hidden series of rear doors and it would look awesome. When I mention how Ford should make a cool hatchback instead of a blob on wheels should they ever return to the segment, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about.

Other brands have done it, but I'd love if Ford published a booklet or something showing all the design proposals and projects we never got to see. Especially if it was something more modern. We've seen stuff from like the 80s and 90s, but haven't seen much secretive stuff from like the 2010s or 2020s.

A cool one off, never before seen, project done by Ford's experimental vehicle and concepts team internally. Probably not much of a market for it, but it looks really cool imo.

I get ya. I just mean a lot of the Lincoln bronco renderings are super low effort, take a Lincoln grille and slap it on a bronco, and it's not gonna be that I'm fairly certain. It's have a longer hood, boxier shape and profile, but more elegant surfacing and styling is my guess.

If/when we get a Lincoln bronco, I think this does a pretty good job at previewing what it would look like.

Lincoln had such a unique and nice looking light bar. Getting rid of it was a huge mistake.