SOLVED: Djetset #412 - 1983 Mazda 323 Coupe/ Ford P-229 proposal by Patrick le Quement

[Djetset]

To gain a point, what is this, and who designed it?

[Djetset]

Experts?

[Djetset]

Pros?

[jotage21]

Fachhochschule Pforzheim?

[Djetset]

No.

[guido66]

Asian?

[Djetset]

The car is Asian, but not the designer.

[guido66]

From South Korea?

[jotage21]

Panther Solo 3?

[Djetset]

Not South Korean, nor a Panther.

[pnegyesi]

Car is Japanese?

[Djetset]

Yes, the car is Japanese.

[guido66]

Mitsubishi?

[Djetset]

No, not a Mitsubishi.

[barrett]

Mind if I just leave this here? That giant image is really getting on my nerves....

[guido66]

Isuzu?

[Djetset]

Not an Isuzu, and thanks for the re-size Barrett 

[Arunas]

Of any big manufacturer?

[barrett]

looks like it could be some sort of Nissan Skyline concept, but I can;t find anything like this from any of the major Japanese makes 

[SeaLion]

Is it a Suzuki or a Daihatsu perhaps?

[Allemano]

I knew I saw it somewhere..

Unfortunately it's not Japanese at all, but a Ford Europe project called "P-229".

It started 1983 as a non functional maquette which wasn't shown to public.
1986 it was lend from Ford Germany to Swiss "Verkehrshaus" in Lucerne which was the most frequented car museum in Switzerland that time. Till the early 1990s the P-229 was part of the exhibition "100 years of car history" labelled as "1:1 Fibreglass Model with Wheels, Colour in Red".
Originally the wind-tunnel proved mock-up was supposed to be a possible Ford Escort successor. It was designed under the aegis of Patrick LeQuement who was Ford's head of design back in 1983. In 1986 he was already working for VW few time before he finally moved to Renault.

[DeAutogids]

I thought as well that I had seen it with relation to Ford, therefore I was a bit amazed to read Japanese.

[Arunas]

I knew I saw it somewhere..

...

[Allemano]

[Allemano]