) attempt at the small coupe European market and the Fiat Coupe is a pure small Pininfarina-designed Ferrari (ok Fiat – sorry!) for the masses – a front wheel drive 220 hp ultimate driving machine. What do these two
cars have in common apart from the fact that I like them? Well they have either died already (Fiat you shouldn't have killed the Coupe!) or are about to die soon (Ford you shouldn't kill the Puma!).
Enter the Ford Start (the actual reason for this piece) now. Designed by Pininfarina
and set to slot in Ford's product line as a coupe version of the (new) Focus in 2004, I just can't help thinking that this is the worthy successor of both the Puma and the Coupe! Actually, what it will
definitely be is the sucessor of both the Ford/Mercury Cougar and the Puma (yup that's replacing two cars with one).
Power should come from a 2.0lt turbocharged 220hp engine (that should be available in the US &
Europe) and a 1.6lt turbocharged 160hp engine (that sounds more likely for a European-only option).
As you can probably see from the photos, the Start is currently in concept-form sporting a rather
interesting glass roof. It may change a bit until its suggested 2004 debut, it may change a lot and it may not appear at all (hope not!).
What we have to say is simple: Come on Ford – start the Start's production soon (or, at least, tell Fiat to bring back the Coupe and don't kill off the Puma!).
You wouldn't be seeing such a big
report on a Pininfarina concept that (almost) went un-noticed in Frankfurt if the webmaster/editor-in-chief (Yours Truly) of your favorite website (FantasyCars.com – I hope!) was not a big fan of two cars (that
mainly exist in European roads): the