Spy Shots: A New Scion Sedan?

by Ronnie Schreiber

Published: November 2nd, 2013

Many automotive companies test cars and components for resistance to radio frequency interference not far from where I live in suburban Detroit. There are a number of radio and television broadcast antennas in the area, so it’s not uncommon to see camouflaged preproduction cars driving in the neighborhood or parked in the shadow of one of the radio or tv towers.

I was running over to my ex’s to give my younger daughter a ride to her teaching job, when I spotted this car. The driver was concerned about getting into trouble so I told him that I’d obscure his face, but I suppose he was a bit freaked out that I knew what he was doing there because he pulled away and drove around the corner. My first guess, based on the shape of the headlamp units is that it’s a sedan version of the Scion xD, which is currently sold here as a five-door (Toyota has a large R&D center in Ann Arbor and a technical center in Plymouth), though it doesn’t necessarily have to be a car intended for the U.S. continent.

Automotive suppliers with R&D facilities in southeastern Michigan will sometimes test foreign market cars in the same neighborhood. What do you think it is?

#PreproductionCars #Scion #SpyShots

Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

More by Ronnie Schreiber

Comments

Join the conversation

8 of 129 comments

Lie2me on Nov 03, 2013

(scratches head)... Now I'm not sure what it is, but then again it's not the kind of car I'd be interested in anyway

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Marcelo de Vasconcellos on Nov 03, 2013
  
  I Cn't resist! But your kids or grandkids will!!! Sorry...
  
  Like
- Lie2me on Nov 03, 2013
  
  @Marcelo de Vasconcellos Qu'ils mangent de la brioche
  
  Like
Tresmonos on Nov 03, 2013

The yellow windshield labeling indicate it's a PD fleet car via Ford. The upper left or right labeling gives it away as Ford is the only OEM dumb enough to label a preproduction build to make their future product stand out further. In this case, it looks to be a TT build of some sort.

Like Reply
- See 3 previous
- 28-Cars-Later on Nov 03, 2013
  
  So you're certain its a Ford?
  
  Like
- Tresmonos on Nov 03, 2013
  
  @28-Cars-Later It looks like some sort of test mule. If it was a sensitive prototype, you would see canvas / 3D camo on it. Probably a regional A car with extreme carelessness was just partially unveiled (unlikely, but you never know). If I were a betting man, it has the snout of the global Fiesta / new Fusion, just blocked off to hide the aston grin and allow proper air flow. It's the new Ka. So it is probably someone at PDC crapping the bed and driving this around without full camouflage. Those damned FCG's and suppliers.
  
  Like
- Tresmonos on Nov 03, 2013
  
  @28-Cars-Later If Ronnie has a up close photo of the Tag # (The yellow label), he could really get the dude in trouble. If it's a Tag # with a W, it's a non saleable vehicle. If it has a T, it can be retrofitted with job 1 intent parts and made saleable. If it's a Y, it's saleable. I think thats the way it went... it's been a few months. I'm positive it's a Ford. Those yellow tag labels give it away. PDC fleet.
  
  Like
- Tresmonos on Nov 04, 2013
  
  @28-Cars-Later This could be a Figo or the fact that it doesn't have canvas camo leads us to believe it's significance has been reduced due to a cancellation or reveal event. I think this may be a Figo, based upon the door handles and mirrors.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

W Conrad I'm not afraid of them, but they aren't needed for everyone or everywhere. Long haul and highway driving sure, but in the city, nope.
Jalop1991 In a manner similar to PHEV being the correct answer, I declare RPVs to be the correct answer here.We're doing it with certain aircraft; why not with cars on the ground, using hardware and tools like Telsa's "FSD" or GM's "SuperCruise" as the base?Take the local Uber driver out of the car, and put him in a professional centralized environment from where he drives me around. The system and the individual car can have awareness as well as gates, but he's responsible for the driving.Put the tech into my car, and let me buy it as needed. I need someone else to drive me home; hit the button and voila, I've hired a driver for the moment. I don't want to drive 11 hours to my vacation spot; hire the remote pilot for that. When I get there, I have my car and he's still at his normal location, piloting cars for other people.The system would allow for driver rest period, like what's required for truckers, so I might end up with multiple people driving me to the coast. I don't care. And they don't have to be physically with me, therefore they can be way cheaper.Charge taxi-type per-mile rates. For long drives, offer per-trip rates. Offer subscriptions, including miles/hours. Whatever.(And for grins, dress the remote pilots all as Johnnie.)Start this out with big rigs. Take the trucker away from the long haul driving, and let him be there for emergencies and the short haul parts of the trip.And in a manner similar to PHEVs being discredited, I fully expect to be razzed for this brilliant idea (not unlike how Alan Kay wasn't recognized until many many years later for his Dynabook vision).
B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.