The Ford B-Max (stylized as Ford B-MAX) code name: B232, is a

mini MPV Mini MPV— an abbreviation for mini multi-purpose vehicle— is a vehicle size class for the smallest size of minivans/MPVs. The mini MPV size class sits below the compact MPV size class and the vehicles are often built on the platforms of B-s ...

(

M-segment M-segment is the European segments for passenger cars described as "multi purpose vehicles". It covers multi-purpose vehicles, minivans and cargo vans. The minivans (also called MPVs or passenger vans) often have removable rear seating to provid ...

) manufactured by

Ford Europe Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. History Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...

from 2012 to 2017. Built on the Ford global B platform, it was initially unveiled as a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, and was officially launched at the 2012

Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Production began in June 2012, and marketing of the first units started during late July. It was launched in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2012. The B-Max is based on the

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

, and its main rivals were the

Fiat 500L The Fiat 500L is a car manufactured by Fiat under the FCA Serbia joint venture and marketed globally since its debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. It is classified as a Mini MPV. Based on a variant of the ''FCA Small Wide platform'', th ...

, the

Citroën C3 Picasso The Citroën C3 Picasso is a car produced by the French motor company Citroën from 2008–2017. It has a five-door mini MPV design and was first unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show as a concept car named "Drooneel". The Picasso is the mini ...

and the

Nissan Note The is a supermini/subcompact hatchback or a mini MPV manufactured and marketed worldwide by Nissan. Introduced in 2004, the first-generation Note was primarily marketed in Japan and Europe, and was produced in Japan and the United Kingdom. The ...

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Overview

The styling of the B-Max continues the

Ford Kinetic Design Kinetic Design is the name given to a style of automobile design used by Ford Motor Company for many of its passenger vehicles in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Developed by the design studios of Ford of Europe in Germany and Britain, it replaced ...

theme, and has rear sliding doors with no

B-pillar The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the ''A, B, C'' and (in larger cars such as 4-door stat ...

s. The B-Max is available with the new 1.0 litre three cylinder engine of the Ford EcoBoost family, that features turbocharged direct injection and

start-stop system A vehicle start-stop system or stop-start system automatically shuts down and restarts the internal combustion engine to reduce the amount of time the engine spends idling, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This is most advanta ...

. This engine officially won the title of "International Engine of the Year 2012". The 1.6 litre

Duratec Duratec is a brand name of the Ford Motor Company used for the company's range of gasoline-powered four-cylinder, five-cylinder and six-cylinder passenger car engines. The original 1993 Duratec V6 engine was designed by Ford and Porsche. Ford ...

engine can be fitted with the

PowerShift The Ford PowerShift is a six- or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, produced by the Ford Motor Company.

six speed

dual-clutch A dual-clutch transmission (DCT) (sometimes referred to as a twin-clutch transmission) is a type of multi-speed motor vehicle, vehicle Transmission (mechanics), transmission system, that uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear train, g ...

automatic gearbox. It has three different trim levels: Studio, Zetec and Titanium. The Studio is the basic model, and it is available only with the 1.4 litre engine. The first B-Max was bought by the President of Romania,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

, on 25 June 2012, directly from the

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

plant. In September 2017, production of B-Max ended, due to dwindling demand for the model, as well as a general decline in sales of mini MPVs. Unusually for a Ford, this model did not receive a mid cycle facelift in order to boost sales, the closest successors were intended as the EcoSport as well as the Fiesta ''Active'', transitions from MPV to SUV design.

Technology

The B-Max features the "Intelligent Protection" system. It also featured Ford's Torque Vectoring Control, which improves handling and agility, and the SYNC and Fold Flat systems. Ford's Emergency Assistance feature alerts local emergency services operators after an accident, in the correct language for the region. It was available in more than thirty countries, mostly in Europe.

Safety

The Ford B-Max was tested by

Euro NCAP The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven (Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February ...

in September 2012, receiving a five star safety rating.

Reviews

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' reviewed the B-Max on 28 August 2012. The reviewer, Andrew English, gave the car a 4 out of 5 stars, and his verdict was that it “brings something new and useful to the market”. ''

What Car? ''What Car?'' is a British monthly automobile magazine and website, currently edited by Steve Huntingford and published by Haymarket Consumer Media. Other team members include deputy editor Darren Moss and test editors Will Nightingale, Neil ...

'' magazine rated the B-Max with 4 out of 5 (later 3 out of 5) stars, giving the car a positive review.

Engines

Sales

References

External links

Official website
(archived) {{Ford Motor Company vehicles B-Max Ford B3 platform B-Max Mini MPVs Station wagons Euro NCAP small MPVs 2010s cars Cars introduced in 2012