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"This car is a benchmark for us as it takes all of the key elements of our new design language and presents them in one single property", said head of Ford of Europe Lewis Booth. "iosis is a pure concept. It has been created by our design team as the ultimate expression of Ford's future European look... iosis takes the design themes we have already revealed in the Ford SAV Concept and takes them to their definitive form. You can expect to see elements of this language progressively appearing on new Ford vehicles. " And especially the next-generation Mondeo, which the iosis previews.
Although this show car is a four-door, four-seat saloon, it will have a more coupe-like rear end and side profile than the current Mondeo, and it will give a taste for the final production car's styling, though Ford stresses that "it is not the precursor to a production model, rather an indicator of future trends."
Every car design project has to have a keyword and theme these days, and Ford's is "kinetic." Design director Martin Smith explains: "Ford products are acknowledged for their class-leading driving dynamics; our objective, quite simply, is to express this leadership in our design. We are calling this new language Ford 'kinetic' design, because we believe it expresses energy in motion." Smith has been tasked with overseeing the design of all of Ford's next-generation vehicles; he says that "the forms will be more distinctive and emotional, more athletic and muscular. Equally, we have to combine safety and dynamic performance and still keep the brand identity. The Iosis has great stance, it is powerful, assertive and confident, and it just cries out to be driven. That's kinetic design - energy in motion."
Key features of the Iosis which typify this approach include its 'inverse trapezoidal' air intake below the front grille, a prominent wheel arch lip, small kinks in the C-pillar's outline which are reflected in the rocker panel, headlamps, bonnet profile and A-pillar, and the "cat's eye" taillights. The Iosis also incorporates angled, pivoting doors, made from lightweight carbonfibre, which give wide-opening apertures to the cabin by opening upwards and outwards, door-mounted and interior cameras which replace rear-view mirrors and an orange-themed cabin finished in materials including wipe-clean neoprene and a kinky-sounding leather-rubber compound. Its steering wheel is solid aluminium, covered with orange leather, and it has a starter button rather than a key-ignition, a LCD screen, an electronic parking brake and sequential-shift gearbox; its central instrument stack has docking points for memory sticks which can store driver data. The seats are constructed around visible ribcage-like frames of silver carbonfibre and aluminium, and the upholstery is finished in charcoal/graphite-coloured leather with a metallic effect.
Of course, not all these features will make it into the production Mondeo - least of all the trick doors - but the Iosis clearly shows that Ford plans to thoroughly modernise the Mondeo range which, although mainstream and high-volume, will nonetheless be high-tech, well-equipped and state-of-the art in its styling.