The 2009 Detroit Auto Show isn’t shaping up to be the most extravagant auto show of all time, but that isn’t stopping Ford from introducing a new design direction at next month’s show. The new design language will be an evolution of Ford’s European Kinetic styling, although the new face won’t be Ford’s next-generation global design language, which is still a few years off.
Ford has yet to reveal which model will wear its new styling, but many industry experts are expecting to see the 2010 Ford Taurus at the Detroit show. Ford design chief J Mays also hinted that the new Taurus could be primed for a Detroit reveal. “If you look at our lineup in North America and what has to be replaced, you can put two and two together,” Mays told Automotive News. Assuming Ford has no plans to update the Mercury Grand Marquis, the Taurus seems to fit the bill.
The new design – which Mays refers to as “post-kinetic” – is believed to blend Ford ’s bold American designs with the more subtle design cues of its European Kinetic design language – as seen on our artist’s rendering of the next-gen Ford Taurus. Although the post-kinetic look is only the stepping stone between Ford’s current design language and its next-generation global design, look for the new styling direction to start with the 2010 Taurus and trickle its way down through Ford’s smaller passenger vehicles.
