2015 Mustang concept at Detroit in January 2012

[Big'Un]

In our report last month we said we strongly believe that in the eyes of the new Ford Evos Concept unveiled at Frankfurt lie the soul of the new 2015 Mustang. The overall shape and silhouette of the concept mirror everything we have come to know that Ford is going to for the next generation pony car.

And at Frankfurt, Ford design guru Jay Mays has only stoked that fire more. In his presentation of the Evos Concept, he stated that “significant elements” of the Evos Concept will be seen in a new production-intent car to be shown at Detroit next January.

Will Ford be showing us a 2015 Mustang Concept next year? It would not be out of the question. Remember the 2005 Mustang Concept car that shook the world and gave us all a look into what the next generation Mustang would look like showed up in 2002, almost two years ahead of the 2005 Mustang’s official unveiling.

We will have to wait and see if what Ford plans in January is a Mustang concept, but Mays did have some good things to say about the Evos Concept in Frankfurt that do tell us more about the car and Ford’s future design language.

First of all, forget about the gull-wing doors. “Gull-wing doors are for show cars, so the interior can be more easily photographed,” he said. “They’re not coming to production cars anytime soon. You’d have some overhead clearance problems with them in your garage.”

The underhood area of the car looks plenty big for any of the Mustang’s current powerplants, though the concept is touted to have a small hybrid powertrain. He stated when asked about what would fit under the hood, “One of our 4- or 6-cylinder engines.”

But then he went on to say. “There’s more room up front than it looks. There’s a lot of space under the windshield. We pulled the windshield angle and the A pillar pretty far forward because the design team liked the look of certain old Ferraris with similar angles.” This means engines would sit back into the engine compartment under the windshield base a bit.

One of the main elements of the Evos Concept Mays said would be seen across the Ford lineup are the new narrow eyes. It has what Ford calls “laser-cut” headlamps, which he said would make the current generation of large ornate headlights obsolete. “It gives us better lighting, allows us to lower the nose for a more aerodynamic front, and allows to tie in more styling elements,” he said.

We will have out ear to the ground as usual as well as be on the floor live at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2012 to bring you all the news as it unfolds.