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Ford future products: New vehicles get lighter, faster and move upscale

Ford Motor Co.'s future-product focus is on improved fuel economy by making its vehicles smaller and engines lighter without sacrificing performance, safety or luxury. It also wants to push the Ford brand more upscale to capture customers orphaned by the shutdown of the Mercury brand, and to attract new buyers with more product offerings. Ford has said 90 percent of its North American nameplates will be available with direct-injection turbocharged EcoBoost engines as standard equipment or as an option by 2013.

Ford Evos concept

Ford's new Evos concept will make its global debut at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show, showcasing the manufacturer's new One Ford design direction as well as exploring future powertrain and vehicle technologies. The four-door, four-seat fastback concept with a lithium-ion plug-in hybrid powertrain, is designed to engage the driver as much as possible through the use of infotainment and wireless technology. Although the car will never be seen on the roads, Ford has claimed that it contains many of the features that will be in use within future Ford production models.

Infographic: How much clay do Ford’s design studios use each year?

Ford has offered an insight into its clay modeling processes with a series of videos and an infographic that charts the process involved in turning a designer's sketch into a full-size model. The infographic uses data taken from all of Ford's global design studios in 2012 to give an idea of how much clay is used in a year, plus how much paint and di-noc film is used to cover each model. Ford has also released a video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the firm's clay modeling studio in Merkenich, Germany, including interviews with members of the modeling team.