Ford reveals B-Max, its new baby MPV 28 | 02 | 2011
FORD HAS lifted the wraps from its baby MPV, the B-Max, and the blue oval-badged car giant is squarely targeting Vauxhall's new Meriva with latest arrival.
The B-Max, which will be shown for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show as a production-ready concept tomorrow, takes several styling cues from the Iosis Max, a concept revealed at the same event two years ago.
One of the most striking design features of the B-Max — which shares its platform with the Fiesta — is it does away with the B-pillar and features a neatly integrated sliding door on each side.
Ford claims the new door format gives the car a 1.5-metre-wide opening to ease access to the cabin. It also claims the opening is about twice as wide as those of “competitors with alternative door concepts”, which is a clear dig directed towards the Meriva’s Flexdoor system.
At just over four metres long, the B-Max 11cm longer than the five-door Fiesta but 32cm shorter than the latest C-Max and while the car’s styling draws on aspects of the hugely successful S-Max, it adopts new features from the firm’s developing ‘kinetic’ design language.
There's a smaller lower grille — a new chrome-edged interpretation of Ford’s trapezoidal grille — finished in gloss black, plus headlamps which are closer to the C-Max’s than the Fiesta’s. The B-Max also gets prominent wheel arch blisters. The concept also has a full-length glass roof, but this is expected to be a cost option on the production car.
It's also expected the B-Max will include Ford's smallest Ecoboost motor, the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder unit, in the engine range. The car will also features stop-start as standard. No detailed specs or figures have yet been released by Ford.
Interior images of the B-Max show a cabin which has a 60/40 split rear seat, but the front passenger seat folds to allow loads of up to 2.35 metres in length — the tallest box currently sold by Ikea.
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Jim McGill