2-Door Ford Concept Comes With Conscience

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co.’s Reflex concept, unveiled here at the North American International Auto Show, is a greenie’s dream.

The diesel-electric hybrid engine gets up to 65 mpg (3.6 L/100 km). The sporty 2-door hosts solar panels in its headlamps and taillights and the hinged doors open upward for a look at a colorful interior that features synthetic and recycled materials.

With the laser red felt floor, the glossy white panels and the darker gray detail, the interior of the Ford Reflex concept looks like a peppermint with some clouds.

Those on the palate design team contend “it’s a play of warm and cool.”

Ford Reflex concept features hinged doors that swing upward.

“This color concept challenges today’s dark, cheap-looking interiors,” says Susan Lampinen, chief designer of color and material design for Ford. “With the red flooring and the glossy white, it looks very real. I think of the iPod, with this high gloss white design. It is very functional, unique, high tech and lightweight.”

Configured as a 2+1, the rear offers a “loveseat,” too small to offer much legroom for an adult but “it can be reconfigured at the touch of a button,” notes Lampinen. That touch brings up a divider bar that allows for two seats, about right for two small children.

The insulation under the interior floor is actually ground rubber scrap from Nike, the athletic shoe manufacturer, called “Nike Grind.” The recycled rubber serves as insulation to ideally reduce interior noise and vibration.

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