From sole model to a first step towards the development of an extended ‘family’. Such was the basic concept that guided Ghia Design in the development of the Turin-G Ka working prototype, a compact and sporty 5-door estate prepared on the Ford Ka platform and previewed at the 67th Turin show.
Another example, if you like, of how in the world of styling and design there are no givens and nothing is definite. The Ka, in fact, is such a personal and well-designed car that at first sight it is hard to think how it could be reinterpreted. “But,” explains Filippo Sapino, director of Ghia Design, “precisely because the car offers one of the most significant designs to come out of the company in recent years, it prompted us to look further ahead and explore the possibilities offered by its formula.” The idea got the support of Ford which, with the ‘Ford 2000 Strategies’ programme, aims at achieving as many derivatives as possible from the same platform.
So, although at the moment there exist no production plans, the Turin-G Ka could turn out to be the first chapter in a far-reaching research exercise. Work began towards the end of 1997, assigned to a team led by design manager David Wilkie and composed of Hugo Nightingale, Marco Bianciotto and Paul Gibson.
Wilkie took care of the exterior styling, while the others worked on the interior. “We started,” says Wilkie, “with various proposals for derivatives and gradually focused on the theme of a sporty estate. On one hand the four doors represent the basic theme of the project and on the other, looking to eventual production, its Achilles heel: at the moment this solution doesn’t exist on the Ka and to manufacture it would mean big investments, which these days could only be justified by an entire ‘family’ of four-door variants”.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 110
