SOUNDBITES: ALL-NEW FORD FLEX
The 2009 Ford Flex is a daring and provocative car from Ford that seats up to seven people. It features a bold design, a roomy interior and a quiet, powerful ride. Chief Engineer Gary Boes (Bows) described the appearance as polarizing.
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| Cut #1: |
"It's what we would call a box, on box, on box design, so you've got lower bit of the car and then the windows are a box on top of it, and then the roof which is very distinguishable can be a separate color and it's a separate box on top, very different from anything else you'll see on the road, very emotive in that case it's sort of a love- hate kind of a thing and it makes it very exciting.": 17 sec. |
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While the exterior of the car will get your attention, the interior will keep it, because of so many amenities including a sync and a fridge. |
| Cut #2: |
"We have the sync technology, which is the voice recognition and activation of all of your audio controls, like your MP3 player and we also have a refrigerator, we like to sort of joke about it, we're the first car in the world with a fridge and sync." :13 sec. |
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Boes says the compressor-driven fridge cools 40 percent faster than a home refrigerator, sits between the second row occupants in the console and holds four half-liter bottles, or two 20-ounce bottles or various fruits and vegetables. |
| Cut #3: |
"It can cool liquids or whatever you would want, it holds seven cans of pop and it does it in about third less time then your home refrigerator, so it's very accessible and very convenient. It has a refrigerator mode and a freezer mode." :11 sec. |
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Instead of outsourcing seat design, Boes says the Ford Flex created a dedicated seat engineering team within its Body Engineering division, giving this vehicle as much, if not more room and comfort then your living room. |
| Cut #4: |
"Yea,it has actually what's called theater seating, so as you're sitting in the first row, and the second row your seated slightly above the first row so you can look out over them and you can sit in the third row a little bit higher yet." :10 sec. |
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Boes says when the team sat down to design the Flex, they listened to what consumers wanted and went after it. |
| Cut #5: |
"We don't really care what people have done in the past, right? We wanted something that was an emotive design we wanted something that created that emotion and we wanted to put content in there that was out of the ordinary but yet desired by the customer, and so yea I think we really did unbutton our vest and really stepped back and gave the customer something they really want." :17 sec. |
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Creating individual space for passengers, adults or children was very important to the Ford Flex design team. |
| Cut #6: |
"We worked very hard on an individual space for kids in the back so if they look up they have their own individual sky-light, they have the refrigerator between them, they have a 110 volt power source, so they can play their MP3 players or their play stations, so we really tried to make an individual space for both kids and adults." :17 sec. |
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The Ford Flex arrives in showrooms this summer with a starting price of just under $29,000. |
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