2008 Detroit Auto Show: Ford Verve Concept

• Looks like: Ford is thinking ahead for its next small car
• Defining characteristics: Bass-mouth lower grille and sharp headlights
• Ridiculous features: Shower nozzle influenced controls
• Chance of being mass-produced: Ford says its new small car is coming for 2010 and we’re betting it’ll look a lot like this

Ford is in need of a small car. Sales trends show that the rise in popularity of small cars and the influx of millennial drivers (today’s teens and twenties) will come to a peak around 2012. Hopefully, Ford can deliver a real-life version of this concept by its own 2010 date.

The Verve is going to be a global car and this concept is similar to ones shown in Asian and Europe. By selling variations of the same car globally, Ford can afford to offer a high quality — think Mini Cooper quality, not Toyota — small car here in the U.S., where vehicles in the class have been hard to make money on.

There aren’t a lot of ridiculous concept car oddities stuffed into the Verve. Instead, we get to ogle the racy lines and radical headlights. The dimensions are quite interesting, though. The Verve concept is roughly two feet shorter in length than a four-door Toyota Yaris, but offers similar front leg and headroom. Ford hopes to throw a fuel-efficient four-cylinder under the hood to get the thing moving, but isn’t saying if it will be a new powerplant of something borrowed from the past. For now, check out the photos below.