How Iosis-inspired will the next Mondeo be?
Many may remember how we gushed over the Ford Iosis Concept from the floor of the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Iosis incorporated what Ford's marketing folk referred to as "kinetic design", and what we simply called good looks. At the time, Ford claimed the Iosis foretold the brand's future design direction, and no car would be more appropriate for some Iosis inspiration than the upcoming redesigned Ford Mondeo.
WhatCar? has produced a rendering of what it hopes the next Mondeo will look like when it debuts at the end of September in Paris. From spy shots of heavily camouflaged Mondeos being tested in public, however, it appears that the next iteration may not look like this image created by WhatCar? Autobild's best guess shows hardly any inspiration from the Iosis, though it's still an attractive auto.
When the wraps are taken off of the next Mondeo in Paris we should be greeted by a car much more exciting than the one it replaces, although we hope we some of the Iosis is reflected in its shape and in future Ford's to come.
[Source: WhatCar?]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ben 1:09PM (6/27/2006)
holy crap. it's like G35 and CLS had a baby.
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Eric L. 1:16PM (6/27/2006)
And just think - some silly focus group convinced Ford that European styling wasn't suited for the US market, and we get the Fusion instead of this!
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Michael Karesh 1:20PM (6/27/2006)
Not unless they adopted it from a Lexus IS that got knocked up by a wayward CX-7.
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Ken 1:21PM (6/27/2006)
Did we do something in the states to piss Ford off? Why do only Europeans get to experience design like this?
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gbh 1:23PM (6/27/2006)
If Ford actually built cars that looked that good, they might actually sell some.
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John B 1:25PM (6/27/2006)
Who gives a damn? North Americans will never get this anyway.
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MikeInNC 1:27PM (6/27/2006)
If they built the Losis (How about one that looks just liek the pic above) and brought it here with a real world interior and priced it under 30k, my next car would be a Ford.
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Raj 1:28PM (6/27/2006)
Why the f*** Ford can't offer this in US of A? This is superb styling. It would be so easy to support Ford only if they offered interesting vehicles. What we get here is boring focus and 500. Fusion is the only OK one.
On different (but sort of related) topic: I was at lincoln website looking at 2007 MKS and Lincoln version of Ford Edge. Two kick-ass vehicles, but am sure Ford will find a way to mess it up by the time it offers them in the dealership. It would be good to post the pictures of these two superb vehicles here on autoblog and see what readers have tosay about their styling.
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James Sonne 1:41PM (6/27/2006)
OMGoshers! This kar = teh hotness. It l00ks like a MKX got knocked up by a platypus that was driving an RX-7 while being chased by a Ford Enforcer police car that had a picture of an Aston Martin DB-TT Concept on the dash which was obviously inspiried by a Russian Submarine!
Give it a rest, guys. It's not like you're car connoisseurs just because you claim you see a detail from another vehicle that also sits on four wheels. Do realize that no one else cares what you think the car looks like. It's nothing personal, it just simply doesn't matter ... to anyone.
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CJ 1:44PM (6/27/2006)
Ford doesn't like it's US citizens.... it's true!
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nailz420 1:45PM (6/27/2006)
MikeInNC: Imagine if also it didn't have a stupid name like Losis? Ow wait, it doesn't!
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Source1 1:49PM (6/27/2006)
Ford is just like one of my girlfriends I dated (for about a month) in 11th grade; incredibly hot but had a 'hands off me' rule. If Ford is going to survive in the United States, Ford is going to have to let us 'get it on' with concepts like this. What a waste!
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matt 1:51PM (6/27/2006)
we should bombard ford with emails to send us good looking cars like that instead of crap like the 500.
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nick 2:01PM (6/27/2006)
If Ford comes back with the old "But it'll cost too much to sell here" line, there's two things they could do:
1. Sell it as a Mercury or a Lincoln and be able to justify the higher price.
2. Totally pull out of the American car business and only sell cars in other markets. Since they're not going to waste any time designing good cars to sell here, I don't think anyone should waste time buying the crap they sell.
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igor 2:04PM (6/27/2006)
1) EUCD was never designed to be used by Ford NA... that will change .. Ford is finaly unifying all platforms to cut Costs.. next Fusion will be the same platform as Mondeo.. (just like MkIII Focus will be globally reunited on C2 platform - including US)
2) the Fusion styling is not perfect... wait for the restyled Ford Five Hundred, or even better the MkIII focus that is coming for 2008 - those cars will finally show the future USA styling of Ford. Fusion is like this Mondeo.. it was almost finished when the hot concept (427 in US, Iosis in EU) were presented, and Ford had to go back and retrofit as much of it back onto a finished product). The Focus will show both European and US styling direction in perfect form.
3) We all gasp over these cars, but most of us are young, metropolitan, coastal "snobs". Do you know where Ford sells most of its cars (incluing actual cars) - the heartland.. the "flyover country" .. can you imagine mom and pop Jones in North Dakoda driving this? If not they will not buy it.. and well, Ford needs them to buy it ....
4) if you want styling like this, bombard Ford with emails to bring it as Mercury - will not happen for a while, but Mercury is already the "metro cool" brand (or Ford wants it to be), so this styling would fly with Mercury logo better than with Ford oval.
Igor
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GhostDoggy 4:14PM (6/27/2006)
Yeah, the only way Ford will grow the cajones to put this one into production will be via the mental condition of pricing well outside of sanity conditions.
Of course, if it comes out at under $30K I'll call myself a liar.
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Bill 5:11PM (6/27/2006)
Are you sure it's a Ford? It could be the next-Gen Mazda six. Those front fenders certainly borrow heavily from the current Mazda design stylebook.
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matt 5:39PM (6/27/2006)
#14, i say, given the chance, mom and pop in north dakota would drive the "mondeo." and if they don't like it, its not like they can't buy some bland crown vic or malibu.
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jeff 6:58PM (6/27/2006)
I'm definitely with you on that one James. Every single time there's a new car posted on here, we have to deal with about a half dozen posters, listing about 2 dozen cars that all had an orgy and gave birth to the car.
This is one car where i really think they shouldn't tone down the concept styling at all. Sure ditch the crazy doors and interior, but the outside should stay as radical as it is. I usually understand when they tone it down for production, but this is one case where i think they should stay close to the concept.
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gbh 1:26AM (6/28/2006)
Igor,
Though I have lived a good amount of time on the left coast, I'm currently in the Midwest.
Lots of us in the 'flyover' went foreign in the late 70's, because the big3 sold overpriced crap. We saw and read the writing on the wall, too.
True, there's a whole lotta farmers that own domestic pickup trucks. True also, there's a niche-world who'll only 'buy American'. Then there's the majority. A few years behind CA, but they buy Toyotas and Hondas just like everybody else.
It's that preposterously insular mindset, that has been killing DET since the early 70's. There is no longer a huge pool of cretins who will buy the latest GM/Ford crapmobile, simply to 'buy American'.
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