• Brandweek, Monday, January 8, 2007 11:45 AM

Ford is partnering with Airstream to design a vehicle that not only can haul seven people around but appeals to consumers' emotions as well. The only vehicle that ever has done that is the VW bus, says J Mays, Ford's chief of design.

The vehicle could become the anti-minivan, which has fallen on tough times in the past several years. Both Ford and General Motors have dropped most of their entries in the waning segment, which numbered about 1.2 million units sold last year, or about 7% of the market.

For Airstream, the 75-year-old company best known for its steel-encased trailers that evoke 50s-style Americana, it offers a new profile.

"If Ralph Lauren were to do an East Coast, Hamptons version of something like this for the upper class, this is what it would look like," Mays says.

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