Ford has released the first preview image of its upcoming electric coupé-SUV, which is strongly tipped to revive the Capri name, as part of a new guerilla marketing campaign.

An advert placed in several print publications for a business called ‘Comeback Cars’ calls for readers to text the phrase ‘COMEBACK’ to the business via WhatsApp. That begins an automated conversation that provides one of two preview images of the new car – the headlight or the rear light.

Autocar previously reported that the new car is set to be called Capri, which is backed by several references to the model in the Comeback Cars ad. The strapline ‘the cars you always promised yourself’ is a nod to the campaign for the original Capri, while the numbers ‘1969’ and ‘1986’ in the new advert reference the start and end dates of its production run.

Bizarrely, the WhatsApp script for the Capri campaign quotes former Manchester United forward Eric Cantona’s 1995 diatribe, after he won an appeal against a two-week prison sentence for kicking an abusive football fan in the chest.

It said: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.

“Now, throw these images in the online sea and find out who follows…”

The link between the famous quote and the car has yet to be clarified.

Ford recently confirmed that the Capri will be revealed imminently, and the new model was recently spotted testing on public roads.

It is expected to be twinned with the new Explorer, based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform and offering a choice of three powertrains (ranging in output from 168bhp to 335bhp) and two batteries (52kWh and 77kWh).

The Capri was originally due to be launched around six months after the Explorer, but the latter car was delayed in order to allow Ford to re-engineer the car to use a new battery pack.