The Ford Capri was Europe’s smaller and more sophisticated answer to the Ford Mustang. It was built from 1974 to 1987, had a range of engines that included a 118 kW V6 and it was the rear-wheel drive, must-have, sports coupe of its generation in Europe and the U.K. Ford advertised the Capri with the slogan,”The car you always promised yourself,” and now Ford bosses have snubbed the idea of reinvigorating Ford’s ailing European business with a modern-day version of the Capri. That’s a silly choice of you’re asking us.
Shown here is the Ford Visos Concept‘, which was hailed as a potential Capri replacement back in 2003, but reports coming out of Europe now suggest that Ford has turned down its European division’s latest request to build a small sub-Mustang coupe. The proposed project parameters called for the new coupe to use an existing front-wheel drive platform and to rely largely on three and four-cylinder engines, including at least one TDCi engine. Okay, perhaps the Ford executives have made a good choice then because that sounds like a horrible, watered-down Volkswagen Scirocco competitor.
Rumours also claimed that it was intended as a genuine heir to the iconic Capri (as in name and not just stature), but when the project was presented to Ford’s top brass, CEO Alan Mulally reportedly turned it down because developing a low-volume coupe was too risky for the ailing European market. The project might be reconsidered at a later stage, however.
If it were to be reconsidered, might we suggest to Ford that they badge it as a Capri, use their wide range of lightweight, efficient, Ecoboost engines, but more than anything, that they make it rear-wheel drive. Toyota 86 competitor anyone? Speaking of ailing sales, the Toyota 86 has been a real disaster for Toyota since its launch hasn’t it?! Now that recipe sounds far more like a car from the blue oval that “you’ve always promised yourself.”
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