The Ford B-Max (stylized as Ford B-MAX) 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-segm ...

(

M-segment Minivan (sometimes called simply a van) is a car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows . The equivalent classification in Europe is MPV (multi-p ...

) 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 or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

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 dedicated to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

. 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 that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...

, and its main rivals were the

Fiat 500L The Fiat 500L is a mini MPV manufactured by Fiat under the Fiat Serbia joint venture and marketed globally since its debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. Based on a variant of the GM Fiat Small platform, ''FCA Small Wide platform'', the 50 ...

, the Citroën C3 Picasso and the

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

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Overview

The styling of the B-Max continues the Ford Kinetic Design 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 stati ...

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 start-stop system (also referred to as idling stop or micro hybrid) is a technology that automatically shuts down and restarts a vehicle's internal combustion engine to reduce idle time, with the aim of lowering fuel consumption and emissio ...

. This engine officially won the title of "International Engine of the Year 2012". The 1.6-litre Duratec engine can be fitted with the PowerShift six speed

dual-clutch A dual-clutch transmission (DCT) (sometimes referred to as a twin-clutch transmission) is a type of multi-speed vehicle transmission system, that uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear sets. The design is often similar to two separa ...

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 Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

, on 25 June 2012, directly from the

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

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. Ford B-Max Titanium – Heckansicht, 22. Februar 2014, Ratingen.jpg, Ford B-Max Titanium Ford B-MAX Titanium Cockpit.jpg, Interior

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, the first results were 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 often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' 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 Media Group. Other team members include deputy editor Darren Moss and test editors Will Nightingale, Neil Wi ...

'' 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 Euro NCAP small MPVs 2010s cars Cars introduced in 2012 Cars discontinued in 2017