The Ford Maya is a concept car designed and built by

Italdesign Italdesign-Giugiaro S.p.A. () is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best ...

for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. It debuted in 1984 at the

Turin Motor Show The Turin Motor Show () is an auto show held annually in Turin, Italy. The first official show took place between 21 and 24 April 1900, at the Castle of Valentino, becoming a permanent fixture in Turin from 1938 having shared it with Milan and Ro ...

History

The Maya was designed to test the waters for a 2-seater,

targa top Targa top, or targa for short, is a semi-convertible car body style with a removable roof section and a full-width roll bar behind the seats. The term was first used on the 1966 Porsche 911 Targa, and it remains a registered trademark of Pors ...

sports car for the U.S. market. Ford had planned to put the Maya into production, building 50 units per day (about 12,000 per year), and as such the concept was built to be fully functional. The design was criticized for being too similar to the Giugiaro designed

Lotus Etna The Lotus Etna is a one-off concept car designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also designed the Lotus Esprit. It premiered at the 1984 British International Motor Show. It is powered by a 4.0-litre V8 of Lotus design, code-named the Type 909. Eng ...

concept unveiled that same year.

Specifications

The Maya is powered by a mid-mounted Ford V6 engine producing , although this was a placeholder for a Yamaha co-developed 3.0 L

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders and cylinder blocks share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, ...

producing that Ford had intended to put into the production model. That power is sent to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission. The Giugiaro wedge design gives it a drag coefficient of 0.28 cx. The interior features twin leather bucket seats, space for luggage behind the seats and most of the buttons for car controls mounted on the steering wheel. As it was built for the U.S. market, it features a soft plastic, deformable front bumper.

Maya II ES

In 1985, after the first Maya concept had been unveiled, Ford requested that a second car be built, called the Maya II ES. At the request of Ford, the ES features a modified design with smoother lines and a central air intake inspired by

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

models of the time. Ford requested the concept be painted in flaming red, but as soon as the car returned to Italdesign, it was repainted in two different shades of metal grey.

Maya II EM

The same year that the Maya II ES was built, Ford requested that Italdesign build a third prototype, which was called the Maya II EM. The EM was finished in July 1985, it was built to test the concept in normal road conditions. It features a modified design with a

notchback A notchback is a car design with the rear section distinct from the passenger compartment and where the back of the passenger compartment is at an angle to the top of what is typically the rear baggage compartment. Notchback cars have "a trunk w ...

rear end and a new, longitudinally mounted biturbo 3.0 L V6 engine producing .

References

{{Ford concept vehicles

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

Italdesign concept vehicles Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1984