The Ford Global C-car Platform is Ford's global

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However ...

automobile platform A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is pra ...

. It replaces the

Ford C170 platform The Ford C170 Platform is Ford's compact car automobile platform from the late 1990s used by the international Ford Focus through its first generation (succeeded by the Ford C1 platform in 2004 outside North America) and continued in use by th ...

and Mazda B platform (BJ). The C1 platform debuted with the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Ford Focus C-Max The Ford C-Max (stylized as Ford C-MAX and previously called the Ford Focus C-Max) is a car produced by the Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2019. It has a five-door compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) design. The Ford Grand C-Max has a longer wh ...

compact MPV Compact MPV (an abbreviation for Compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle) is a vehicle size class for the middle size of MPVs. The Compact MPV size class sits between the mini MPV and large MPV (minivan) size classes. Compact MPVs remain predominantly a ...

in early 2004. The platform is designed for either front- or

all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one ...

. First called the C1 platform, it was designed in Ford's European development center in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, as the "C Technologies Program". It was said to be one of the largest platform programs in history at that time. The Ford Focus, Volvo S40 and V50, and Mazda3 (BK and BL) share about 60% of their parts and components. Thirty engineers each from Ford,

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one ...

, and

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

worked in Cologne for two years to combine the compact-car engineering for all three automakers under the direction of Ford Director of C Technologies Derrick Kuzak,

Ford of Europe Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. History Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Britain, Ford Germany, and Irish H ...

vice president of product development. The platform has been stretched creating the EUCD for use in future

vehicles. Among all of the cars, the floorpan is different, but the front and rear subframes, suspension,

steering Steering is a system of components, linkages, and other parts that allows a driver to control the direction of the vehicle. Introduction The most conventional steering arrangement allows a driver to turn the front wheels of a vehicle using ...

, braking,

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

, and some

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

components are shared. Vehicles using this first iteration of the platform include: * 2003–2008

Mazda Axela , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

/Mazda 3 (BK) (Note: production continued in China through 2013) * 2003–2010 Ford Focus C-Max (first generation) (C214), first European vehicle on this platform * 2004–2010

Ford Focus (second generation, Europe) The Ford Focus Mk 2 is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from 2005 to 2010. It was launched at the Paris Motor Show on September 25, 2004, as a three and five-door hatchback and an estate, although the new car was previewed, ...

(C307), (Note: the Ford Focus (North America) continued on the C170 platform through 2011) * 2004–2012 Volvo S40 II (P11) * 2004–2012 Volvo V50 (P12) * 2005–2010 Mazda Premacy/Mazda 5 (CR) (and related Ford i-Max) * 2006–2013 Volvo C70 II (P15) * 2007–2013 Volvo C30 (P14) * 2008–2012 Ford Kuga (C394) * 2008–2013 Mazda Biante * 2006-2012 Mazda CX-7

Second generation

The C1 platform has been replaced by the global C platform (or C-car) and combines three previous platforms as part of Ford's "One Ford" efficiency drive. Ford global C platform vehicles: * 2011–2019 Ford C-Max (second generation) (C344) and Grand C-Max * 2012–2018

Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

(C346) * 2013–2019 Ford Escape / Ford Kuga (C520) * 2015–2019 Lincoln MKC * 2013–present Ford Transit Connect * 2015–present Ford Escort (China) Vehicles partially based on global C platform: * 2009–2013

/Mazda3 (J68/BL) * 2010–2018 Mazda Premacy/Mazda5 (CW) * 2013–2019 Volvo V40 II/V40 Cross Country (Y555/Y556)

References

{{Ford platforms C1 C1