Ford SYNUS: The Mobile Vault
By Motoring Channel Staff - 13/04/2005
|
Ford SYNUS
Built like a vault for those who
want 'privacy' as Ford terms it
Bullet
Proof Cars
 The
Synus concept car makes for an interesting vehicle,
taking the idea of an armoured car and applying
it to something rather small and ostensibly cute.
José Paris, the car's designer, said:
"The SYNUS takes the road with a Super Duty-sized
attitude. The look is tough, fun, wholly American,
and unmistakably Ford."
Tough and fun it may be, but the look of the
car is purely incidental -- the fact that it has
6-inch thick doors, no rear window, bullet proof
panels, video cameras and combination locks suggest
that this car was designed to cater for an increasingly
fearful car buying public. Will it sell? It could
be a matter of politics, rather than need...
- Feann Torr, Editor
|
|
Americans may be restless, but they are not rootless. They
always know where they are going.
A century ago, population was moving from the farm to the
city. Fifty years ago, the shift was to the suburbs. Today,
the trend is back to big cities.
The Ford SYNUS (pron: sin-yoo-ess) concept is aimed
at those taking part in this shift, and people who want a
maximum security vehicle.
It is compact enough to manoeuvre through congested streets
yet bold enough to run with the big dogs at the same time.
The architecture of the SYNUS comes from the critically acclaimed
Ford Fiesta.
Smaller than the Ford Focus, Fiesta is what is known as a
B-car in some European and American territories.
Popular in other markets because of narrow streets and dense
traffic, B-cars are almost unknown in America. However, considering
that the majority of the world's population will live in urban
areas by 2010, the time may finally be at hand for the B-car
market in the United States.
The SYNUS concept explores what such a car might look like.
While SYNUS may be small, it has been designed to stand up
to the rough and tumble of life in the big city. Taking its
inspiration from bank vaults and armoured cars, this concept's
exterior design immediately communicates that it takes security
seriously.
When parked and placed in secure mode, SYNUS deploys protective
shutters over the windshield and side glass, not unlike the
Batmobile. Small windows on the flanks and roof are non-opening
and bullet-resistant and the rear hatch has no window at all.
The SYNUS concept also signals security through its use of
safe-inspired features, such as a driver-side dial operated
combination lock on the B-pillar and the rear hatch is operated
via a vault-style four-spoke spinner. Flat glass in a slightly
raked windshield furthers the armoured-car look of this concept.
Chief designer Joe Baker conceived the interior of the concept
as a warm, welcoming private sanctuary in contrast to the
cold, perhaps cruel, world outside the car. Innovative front
seats are identically shaped and padded on both the front
and rear faces.
Another nice design touch is that each seatback can slide
from back to front, allowing one or both of the front seat
occupants to face rearward.
This arrangement could turn the SYNUS into a conversation
pit, allowing for personal interaction between front and rear
occupants, an aspect that many car makers have been working
on, but few have been gutsy enough to put into production.
The rear seat can accommodate two passengers, it also can
fold flat to become a cargo area.
Colours, shapes and materials throughout the inside of the
concept also were chosen to emphasise the sense of warmth
and welcome. And to make the interior even more accommodating
and spacious, the steering wheel folds away under the dash.
Perhaps the SYNUS concept's most eye-popping feature is a
gigantic widescreen liquid crystal display in the tailgate.
The largest flat screen LCD ever mounted in a vehicle, it
offers a choice of Internet surfing, movie viewing, or, via
cameras, watching what's going on outside the vehicle. Who
needs windows when you can have digital simulacrum?
In motion, the display works with the cameras to function
as the vehicle's rear window: by looking in the rearview mirror
the driver can sees a high-definition closed-circuit image
of the rearward view.
The powertrain of the SYNUS is taken from the European Mondeo
sedan - a turbocharged, intercooled 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder
Duratorq diesel engine with 134 horsepower (98kW) and a whopping
320Nm of torque.
In the interest of fuel economy, the diesel is compatible
with bio-mass diesel fuel. This mix features 80 percent traditional
petroleum-based diesel mixed with 20 percent bio-mass diesel.
Bio-mass diesel is a non-toxic biodegradable diesel fuel made
from biological sources, such as agricultural products and
even recycled restaurant deep-fryer oil and other food-based
greases.
The concept shares the fun-to-drive Fiesta's MacPherson strut
front suspension and semi-independent torsion-beam rear suspension
for nimble, confident handling. For increased cornering grip
– not to mention style – the SYNUS concept features
a wider stance than the production car, and 18-inch alloy
wheels wrapped in 225/50 R18 performance tyres.
|
