Following is the text of remarks by Donald F. Kopka, vice president - Design, Ford Motor Company, at the Urban Car News Conference, Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday, July 14, 1981:
These vehicles are an attempt to show in three-dimensional form several variations of how small, fuel-efficient cars of the late '80s and early 1990s might look. They range from superlight-weight cars that hold only two passengers and a grocery bag to a van configuration that will seat seven persons.
Our overall objective was to create the most fuel-efficient, package-efficient cars possible. But more than that, we wanted to create cars that people would like to own...cars they would be comfortable with...cars that would serve them on urban freeways as well as in the crowded downtown area.
They also had to look good. The last thing we want to have happen is to arrive at 1990 and have all of our cars look like spartan little boxes.
An important aspect of their appearance is that they have to look like automobiles — not motorized market baskets. They have to look like they are in motion, and more importantly, they must move through the air efficiently. So, from the beginning, aerodynamics was a major consideration.
We gave special attention to the interiors, too. The most important consideration in designing small cars is to avoid a tiny claustrophobic cell or cocoon effect. Some of the econobox concepts that we have looked at have a very dehumanizing effect, and we want to avoid that at any price.
To accomplish this we've done a number of things such as sweeping away the instrument panel to give a feeling of spaciousness, devising ingenious luggage storage space, and we even have a small miracle that seats seven persons.
Another major objective of these concept cars is to educate the public... and, ourselves for that matter... about what to expect in future small cars. The size and shape of automobiles are changing so rapidly that it is causing a sort of cultural shock. In the '50s,    '60s and '70s, when change was more evolutionary, it was much easier to forecast consumer trends. We were able to test designs in research clinics    by showing    prospective buyers    clay and plastic
models of cars that    we planned    for    three to five years in the future.
However, that does not work today. The designs three and five years away are too different from today's cars to get a meaningful comparison. The participants in the clinics are disturbed by these dramatic changes and simply cannot relate these designs to what they've been driving.
As a result, the design function has become more intuitive and we must make our decisions based more on our experience and knowledge. We need to prepare the public — and ourselves — for what is coming. These concept cars can provide a benchmark. By showing them at auto shows and in public    forums, we    can    prepare people    for what is coming.
In designing    these cars,    we    relied heavily    on our overseas
design people who have had years of experience with small cars. We have an excellent idea exchange between our various design components.
As you may know, we have design offices in England, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Australia. We have worldwide design responsibility, and I'm in Europe once a month.
We rely heavily on the Ghia studio in Turin, Italy. In fact, they created most of the designs you see here today. Ghia's contribution is especially important because they give us an independent perspective. Their experience with sporty cars and limited-production vehicles helps offset our tendency to focus on mass production and traditional concepts.
Interestingly, when we bought Ghia several years ago, the European press said that it would be the end of Ghia's creativity.
They said that the influence of the large corporation would stifle them. However, if the 1981 European auto show season is any indication, they are holding their own very well. Ghia-designed show cars were well represented at the European shows and I think that any of you who have followed the international shows the last few years will agree that Ghia has had the most exciting, innovative cars in the show, and I can assure you they have a definite impact on our designs.
As I said, aerodynamics is a major factor in creating these small cars, too. Up until a few years ago, it was generally believed that aerodynamics only had an effect at speeds above 50 miles per hour. But today we are able to measure aerodynamic effect at speeds as low as 27 miles per hour — and we believe it has an effect at even lower speeds, but our instruments are not sophisticated enough to measure it.
In fact, aerodynamics has become the most cost effective way of improving fuel economy. For example, we estimate that it costs us $200 million to gain one-tenth of a mile of Corporate Average Fuel
Economy by weight-saving and powertrain improvements. We have calculated that aerodynamics has accounted for at least one mile per gallon of our CAFE improvement since 1978, which means a savings of $2 billion. The only out-of-pocket expense for these gains was about $7 million in wind tunnel testing. Now that's a gold mine.
And we haven't stopped there. The Probe I, which we unveiled a year ago, has a drag coefficient of .23. We now are working on the Probe III in Europe and starting on the Probe IV in the United States which will be even better. It will incorporate such concepts as thin tires, underbody shielding and automatic attitude controls. The latter system will raise and lower the car so that it has the optimum angle of attack to the air at each speed.
One of the side benefits of aerodynamics is noise reduction.
Up to 45 miles per hour most of the noise you hear in a car is tires and engine. Above 45 it's wind noise. In our coast-down test with the Probe I where we run the car up to 70 miles per hour and shut off the engine to see how far it will roll, it is really a strange phenomenon when the engine is cut off. It's like being in a glider. There is practically no sound Now I would like to review the cars with you.
The first is the Super Gnat. Some of you may have seen it because it has appeared at auto shows throughout the country. It was one of our very first two-passenger car concept cars, and believe it or not, has been around here for about four years and still getting good comments.
The objective was to design a compact and aerodynamically engineered vehicle suited for both city and commuter driving. It is powered by a 957cc Fiesta engine but could operate on a three-cylinder or two-cycle engine which could be fueled by gasoline or any of several alternative fuels.
It is 134 inches long and has a 78.7-inch wheelbase. (That is about 36 inches shorter than an EXP.) Yet, the interior has ample room for six-footers.
Super Gnat's major exterior features are flush windshield, side windows and backlight; an aerodynamically designed air dam under the nose, and aerodynamically shaped side mirrors. At the rear of the side glass is a waste gate for interior air to exit.
The Shuttler, which was designed more recently, is another sporty execution of a two-passenger vehicle. It features a semi-fastback aerodynamic wedge silhouette. It also has flush glass and flush-mounted door releases to improve aerodynamics.
It is about four inches shorter than the Super Gnat, but has a more spacious looking passenger compartment. This is accomplished by using a pod type instrument cluster and allowing the rest of the instrument panel to slope away forming an exceptionally large package tray.
The Shuttler has an excellent coefficient of drag. It's .335 rating is equal to that of the Mercury LN7, which has the best coefficient of drag of any production car sold in the United States.
The next vehicle is the Pockar, which is a four-passenger small car. It has an overall length of 129 inches, nearly four inches shorter than the two-passenger Super Gnat. The Pockar is distinguished for its packaging, particularly the innovative side luggage storage. Large wraparound bumpers at the front and rear reflect the outlines of the side luggage compartments and provide added protection when parking in congested areas. The aerodynamic door-mounted rear view mirrors are flared into the bodywork and flanked by rectangular headlight units which incorporate wraparound front turn indicators.
The windshield is cleaned by a single wiper.
The interior continues the space-saving theme with the door luggage compartments serving as armrests.
The ultimate in package efficiency is the Aerovan. It is based on an Escort platform, but as I mentioned earlier, can accommodate seven passengers. With rear seats folded down, it has as much load space as today's mid-sized station wagon.
The "fast front" silhouette provides highly efficient aerodynamic characteristics as well as good driver visibility. It also has unique vent windows that further increase the driver's field of vision.
The interior features an ergonomically designed instrument cluster with easy-to-reach controls and an unusually large package tray, which could hold light luggage in a pinch. It has a flip-up seat in the center row for access to the fold-up third seat. The spare tire is mounted in the front engine compartment to maximize rear-compartment load space.
The final property I want to discuss with you is the Cockpit -an innovative, aerodynamic design for a single-cylinder city car with three wheels and tandem seating for two.
In stop-start urban driving, the Cockpit — which weighs only 770 pounds — is projected to get better than 75 miles per gallon from its motorcycle-like engine. Its body lines were designed to take full advantage of the latest airflow-management techniques.
We named it the Cockpit, because it resembles the cockpit of a fighter plane. Access to the Cockpit's tandem seating position is a full-weather-sealed, framed canopy, which is front-hinged and lift-assisted by hydraulic struts. The canopy concept provides better access in congested parking than a conventional side-hinge door. The car's windshield is made of laminated glass while the whole canopy and rear window are of tinted reinforced plastic.
The Cockpit has a triangular chassis which, with additional side support bars, carries all mechanical components. The transverse-spring front suspension is controlled by hydraulic shock absorbers, while the rear-mounted powerplant and driving wheel are set at the apex of the chassis and sprung by two integral coil-spring shock absorber units.
The interior has room for baggage alongside the bucket seats and miscellaneous items can be stored on the rear parcel shelf or under the front hood which also houses the spare tire.
The Cockpit is powered by a 12 horsepower 200cc Piaggio aircooled engine which drives the single rear wheel. The engine actually is mounted inside the circumference of the wheel. The vehicle also could be powered by electricity or by an alternative fueled engine.
Whether or not there ever will be a market for a vehicle this small will depend on the future cost of the fuel. However, this is part of our self education experiment, to probe the outer limits.
This group of small cars should give you a pretty good idea of the directions we are probing in providing fuel efficient cars for the future. Although there are no plans to manufacture these specific vehicles, they do provide our designers and engineers with the opportunity to research and develop a wide range of concepts and features which could be adapted for more conventional volume-production vehicles.
Now, we would like to discuss the type of powertrains and fuels the company has in mind for cars of this type. It is my pleasure to introduce the vice president for Vehicle Research, Tom Feaheny.