The news that Doug Field, the man who led Ford’s electric vehicle and software efforts for the past five years, is leaving the company is a big one, and the automaker has tried to dampen the impact by throwing in the mix an announcement about “one of the most intensive product, software, and services rollouts in Ford’s history” coming by the end of the decade.
You can read details about Ford’s product offensive in our initial coverage of the news; but that’s not what this article is about. While researching for the news story, I wanted to see if Doug Field had posted anything about his departure from Ford on his LinkedIn page.
Hidden in Plain Sight? Doug Field’s LinkedIn Page Shows Stillborn EV
I found no recent career updates on his profile, but I was surprised to see something else that piqued my interest: his LinkedIn background banner. The image at the very top of the page shows an as-yet-unknown vehicle that may or may not be an unreleased Ford or Lincoln EV.
Interestingly, there’s no way of knowing when Field uploaded the image on his LinkedIn page, but according to a thread on BlueOvalForums, it has been sitting there for quite a while, which is quite intriguing.
Why do I think it’s an EV? For several reasons; first of all, it has an aerodynamic, teardrop shape that most battery-electric vehicles go for because it’s very important for efficiency. Then there’s the very short and low hood that couldn’t possibly house a gas engine and its ancillaries. Finally, elements like the aero wheel covers and high-set, minimalist door handles are also strong clues that the vehicle may be an EV.
But which EV is it? It must be one of the EV models Doug Field has led development on while working at Ford, right? And then it dawned on me: I remembered seeing spy shots of a very similar-looking test prototype a couple of years ago.
The Design Is Strikingly Similar to a Test Prototype Spotted in Dearborn in 2023
#news #Concepts Mystery Ford Or Lincoln Sporty Model Spotted At Dearborn Premises https://t.co/qQBsqOweb8 pic.twitter.com/MMpU7yYHfJ
— Flyin18T Motorsports (@Flyin18T) February 2, 2023
Here’s what I’m referring to, courtesy of CarScoops. At the time, the website noted that the photos were taken in Dearborn, Michigan, on Ford’s home turf. Seen from the side, the camouflaged vehicle has the same roofline and proportions as the one in Doug Field’s photo.
Furthermore, if you look at the door sills, you can see that the plastic cladding drops toward the wheels, exposing more sheetmetal—exactly like on the vehicle featured in Doug Field’s photo. Judging by the fact that the spy photos were taken three years ago and the prototype hasn’t been seen since, we can assume that it’s either still in development or it has been canned.
The latter hypothesis seems more plausible, especially if you’ve read reports from 2024 about Ford initially delaying to 2027 and then canceling a three-row EV altogether. You may recall that the said Ford electric vehicle, which was announced in 2023 as a sleek, 350-mile family EV, was twinned with a three-row crossover from Lincoln, which was also dropped.
So which one is it? I’m inclined more toward the Lincoln, partly because of the sleek design that suits the luxury brand better and partly because the high-set door handles are very similar to the last Lincoln Continental luxury sedan that went out of production in 2020.
Obviously, I asked Doug Field for information about the vehicle, and if he ever replies, I’ll update the article accordingly. Until then, what vehicle do you think this is? Or even better, do you happen to know what it is?
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