Ford Freestyle FX concept
by Christopher A. Sawyer

Despite Ford’s fevered attempts to classify the Freestyle FX concept as a vehicle that can’t be pigeonholed, in its fully extended roofline form, the vehicle looks like Dearborn’s take on an Audi allroad. Both have transverse V6 engines under the hood, all-wheel-drive, station wagon bodies, and greater ride height. Alloy trim along the roof and rockers, and ersatz skid plates front and rear complete the look. Of course, retract the rear roof section into the body, and the Freestyle FX looks like an Explorer Sport Trac built off a car platform. Adding a plastic tonneau cover, claims Ford, gives the car…truck…vehicle a sedan-like appearance and greater security.

Viewed from above, the center section of the translucent amber roof sits lower than either the fore and aft units. By pressing a button on the key fob, the side windows drop into fender-well recesses, the rearmost seats fold into the floor, and the rear roof section and glass hatch panel slide forward along the roof rails until they close out C-pillars. This leaves the load floor exposed, and the load area can be extended by folding the middle set of seats flat. So configured, the Freestyle FX can swallow the standard 4 ft. by 8 ft sheet of plywood so important to Detroit packaging engineers and home improvement store owners.

Dual round, high intensity discharge headlamps sit behind each clear headlight cover, and sit slightly behind a trapezoidal grille cluster fitted with a cross-hatch mesh. None of these elements cross the upper boundary of the front bumper. The trapezoid theme is repeated in the under bumper air intake, which is surrounded by a metallic finish section suggestive of a front skid plate. A narrow alloy-finish bar divides the opening in half, and repeats as a horizontal stalk for the large, circular driving lamps.

A strong waterline carries through the bumper section and along the body sides above the wheel hubs before bisecting the rear bumper face. This gives the Freestyle a strong, level base that accentuates the rising upper character line, and reduces the height of the body side. Large wheel arches protrude from the relatively slab sides, and 20-inch six-spoke alloy wheels complete the Audi allroad overall look.

For a vehicle that’s supposedly so tough to categorize, the Freestyle FX looks like an American sport wagon with European overtones. And that’s not a bad thing.

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