You wake up in a blind panic. It's 9am and you somehow slept through the alarm you set for 7:00, which means there's no way you'll make your important 9:30 meeting downtown. You may have already stubbed your toe on the bed and nearly fallen down the stairs before you realise that your car kindly turned the alarm off for you, as it received information from 'the cloud' that your meeting was postponed. Welcome to the future. Welcome to Ford's new Evos Concept.

Once you've calmed down you throw on the radio to catch up with the news before flicking on a selection of your own music as you eat breakfast. As you leave and get into the Evos the same music is playing through its stereo and the car is already at your preferred temperature. It knows too that you're not in a hurry so asks you if you'd like to take the 'dynamic' route. As you get to the interesting bit of road the car alters throttle response, braking and damping to suit the road conditions and your skill level. The petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain is optimised for performance in this mode.

Then you get into town and the car reckons it knows another route that avoids an area of bad pollution. On the way there's traffic, but that's ok, as the Evos can take over the controls and run in purely electric mode while you Facebook your friends or whatever. Finally you get to work and the car initiates charging of its lithium ion battery via inductive means in the ground of your car parking space while you go about your high powered business day.

Yes, this is Ford's vision of the future for drivers and apparently it's not as far away as you might think. We're all embracing technology like never before and the next generation won't even realise there was a time without Twitter, Facebook and in-car connectivity.

But let's forget about all that pie in the sky stuff for a moment and take a closer look at the Ford Evos concept. Isn't it stunning? You'll have to click through the gallery to fully appreciate it all. Design flourishes we particularly like include the hidden rear gullwing doors and the haunches over the back wheels. The lights are jewel-like too and there's a meaty aggression to the nose. Strip the concept car bluster away and you're still left with a remarkably good-looking car.

Ford is adamant that it will never produce the Evos, but J Mays, group vice president, Design and chief creative officer, spoke to us and emphasised how disappointed he'd be if the new production car to be revealed at the Detroit Auto Show in January doesn't look a lot like the Evos.

He's referring mostly to the distinctive nose of the Evos. The inverted trapezoidal grille has been sharpened and moved higher up, while the headlights have been reduced dramatically in size and lent a more aggressive air than those that characterised Ford's kinetic design language. Expect this signature appearance to be rolled out across Ford's line-up in the coming years - starting with that new global car in Detroit. We assume it will be an all-new Mondeo.

Before that is the Frankfurt Motor Show, where the Ford Evos concept will make its public debut. Alongside it will be the production ready Focus ST, plus another two world premieres, which we suspect will include the three-door Focus hatchback and a hot Fiesta, probably called the ST.

Only 12 more sleeps to go before we find out for sure.

Frankfurt Motor Show

Shane O' Donoghue - 30 Aug 2011