Paris Show reveal for Ford’s sleeker new Ford Focus. Picture: Headlineauto
Business Car Manager: Editor’s Blog
THE old Ford C-Max had some of the best seats to enter and exit a car I have ever experienced. And, being a Ford, it drove well, too. It just left me cold when it came to its appearance.
However, that’s not the case with the new C-MAX, which is available in five and Grand seven-seater versions. (It’s a bit like ordering coffee these days, isn’t it? ‘I’ll have the skinny C-MAX, my friend with the larger family will have the fatter Grand’.)
Anyway, you’d not want to get into the old C-MAX much. But, according to Ford boss Nigel Sharp, that’s not the case with the new model. Here’s why. The all-new Ford Focus, which was launched at the Paris show, simply won’t suit everyone because, says Nigel, “it’s lower and sleeker” than the Focus it replaces.
For those put off by the new-look Focus, the C-MAX might be the answer. “The five-seat C-MAX might suit them better and we can now also offer the seven-seat Grand version which we didn’t have before,” explains Nigel.
“Also, we never sold previous C-MAX to fleets; it’s a proposition we can now afford to make,” he said.
The crunch will be explaining this to small businesses and companies with car fleets. But with Ford’s new 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine (a petrol unit with far better performance/economy than ever before) the C-MAX looks a strong proposition.
More to the point, it has some of that practical usability that small business owners, directors and business car drivers like.
I’m looking forward to testing the car
