Ford to bring back the Ford Capri?
What better time for rumours of a revival of the Ford Capri to surface than the year of the 40th anniversary of the Ford Capri coupe. The Capri was born in 1969 and production ended in 1986, with a total of 3 generations built and sold.
Click for enlarge image
Ford can take an idea or two from the Volkswagen stables. After all, they made a new Scirocco from the Golf platform, so Ford could easily produce a new Capri from the global Focus platform if they wanted to.
They seem to be already heading that “more models than before from one platform” way by spawning the S-MAX and the Kuga, both new models that are variations of the Focus platform.
Click for enlarge image
In fact Ford just issued a long release with many product shots and a history of the Capri a few weeks ago, as if hinting to us that a new Capri concept will be shown this year. Of course the company’s last modern interpretation of the Capri was the Ford Visos Concept back in 2003, of which pictures you can find after the jump.
The shots in this article is an artist’s rendering by Theophilus Chin in line with Ford’s new “Kinetic Design” styling.
VIDEO: Ford Visos Concept Promo
May 10, 2009 @ 7:23 pm
The original Capri rocks!
And as I often say, Theophilus Chin for President! =D
May 10, 2009 @ 7:43 pm
Paul and Theo.
I personally think their new car should be something near with Mazda.
Ford and mazda are longtime JV both of them.
so.. it should be similiar to mazda …. (I don’t have any idea which model).
May 10, 2009 @ 8:57 pm
yeah, rumors are abound with this reboot. i can’t wait from what i see. looks sleek and has minor hints of the v8 vantage.
nice.
May 10, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
I hope the capris are as affordable by the ppl as in the olden days…
May 10, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
A little too much RX8 in the front, a little too much XF in the back.
As much as the Capri is a legend, I doubt that Ford will do something like this. The Capri has always been a gentlemen’s sport coupe’ish, a GTish car.
Wondering if they will build it on the larger Mondeo platform, which is more in line with what the Capri was. Markets for full sized non-luxury coupes might be limited. The coupe market is primarily in North America, but there, the Capri nameplate is virtually non-existant.
Good name, but no market
The Escort was probably the spiritual predecessor of the curent Focuses.
May 10, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
if only ford would bring back the escort cosworth. that would be beautiful.
May 10, 2009 @ 11:37 pm
theo,
pls give your capri concept 4 round lights. those were one of the more prominent design cues of the capri together with the half oval shape rear window (which you have captured in your concept), the 2 holes in the side.
May 10, 2009 @ 11:43 pm
car manufacturers should stop calling hatchbacks coupes. the vw sciricco is not a coupe. it is a hatchback. the volvo c30 is not a coupe. it is a hatchback. ford will do well to respect the heritage of the capri by making it a proper coupe. the kia koup IS a coupe. there must be a boot lid which does not extend to the rear screen and not a full opening tailgate.
the visos concept is NOT A COUPE. theo’s concept is a proper coupe though
May 10, 2009 @ 11:45 pm
chin, it’s a coupe.. not a sport car.. and i can see a lot of Aston Martin’s elements in the chop..
May 11, 2009 @ 3:09 am
the most important……………….RWD
May 11, 2009 @ 3:45 am
If ford make a car like Theo’s rendering, I#ll buy. That is one good looking rendering.
May 11, 2009 @ 5:14 am
Ya just strip down an Aston Martin and rebadged as the new Ford Capri or maybe the new Ford Escort.
May 11, 2009 @ 8:31 am
Theo,
nice rendering, but it has got no design cues whatsoever form the original Capri. I don’t blame you – you were probably not born yet.
May 11, 2009 @ 8:53 am
[quote comment="237384"]the most important……………….RWD[/quote]
yes!! RWD! too many cars these days have gone FWD and there is a niche for a small affordable RWD coupe waiting to be filled. ford has already gone FWD for the successor of the escort. i hope they don’t screw up the capri… if they still have funds to make it, that is.
the toyota successor to the ae86 is at this moment just talk… i hope that somebody makes a small affordable (yeah, i know this is relative to what one earns) RWD coupe and sells it here. the RWD hyundai genesis coupe is nice too.
May 11, 2009 @ 10:09 am
I think much batter Ford bring back the lagendary Escort with DNA like Mustang (affordable Mustang). If we can see back the history, Escort are more popular coupe sold World wide. Even have good track record in rally. If Ford do Escort come back, must do RWD (We can do driffring with ford). The Design must have look like Mustang. Who aggre..?
.
May 11, 2009 @ 11:26 am
[quote comment="237454"]I think much batter Ford bring back the lagendary Escort with DNA like Mustang (affordable Mustang). If we can see back the history, Escort are more popular coupe sold World wide. Even have good track record in rally. If Ford do Escort come back, must do RWD (We can do driffring with ford). The Design must have look like Mustang. Who aggre..?
.[/quote]
agree!! agree!! either make it look retro like mk1 or mk2. i think some students submitted a mk1 retro design study last year. it was quite nice. make it affordable too. 1.6 and 1.8 for the escort and maybe 2.0 and 2.4/5 for capri.
May 11, 2009 @ 11:38 am
not sure if i can do this but here’s a link to the retro escort design study:
http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/05/21-benchmark-ford-escort-concept/
i think the capri should also have a retro design… some may disagree though and say that the car should move with the times and only retain the concept of the original – affordable, coupe, rwd, spacious rear seats, entertaining and fun to drive.
May 11, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
some capri retro designs which will suit fans better… imho lah
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=513292
May 11, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Ahh…, my first love. Capri the Capricious. If i could just get my hands on one of these new babes, whatever they look like but handle the way they used to (better of course), i’ll be in hog’s heaven. Psychic-rock for the common man!
Aiya, don’t want to compare Escort to Capri laa, its like comparing a mule to a steed, in those bygone days.
Was not even going to mention pricing, but if 150-170k thereabouts, will hock off all my P1’s,2’s and let the kids and missus take the bus/LRT.
May 11, 2009 @ 6:24 pm
[quote comment="237513"]Ahh…, my first love. Capri the Capricious. If i could just get my hands on one of these new babes, whatever they look like but handle the way they used to (better of course), i’ll be in hog’s heaven. Psychic-rock for the common man!
Aiya, don’t want to compare Escort to Capri laa, its like comparing a mule to a steed, in those bygone days.
Was not even going to mention pricing, but if 150-170k thereabouts, will hock off all my P1’s,2’s and let the kids and missus take the bus/LRT.[/quote]
not to compare but if Ford can produce Escort Dream model (almost identical like his brother Mustang). Capri still are best all time.
November 21, 2009 @ 6:46 am
There was actually a Capri model beyond the 1986 model year. Mercury had a Mazda based Capri from 89-94, we had it here in Canada but I don’t know about stateside. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Capri#1989-1994