The Ford B-Max at the Geneva Motor Show 2012
Ford B-Max
We reported earlier about the Ford B-Max having been presented during last year’s Geneva Motor Show but it wasn’t till this year’s Motor Show that The Ford B-Max was officially launched.
Along with the Dacia Lodgy, the Ford B-Max is a very reflective example of what automakers are planning for the European continent, and this doesn’t extend exclusively to the low-cost heaven that is South-Eastern Europe, but the entire continent on the whole, because this trend has been expanding westwards for a while now.
The B-Max features a turbocharged engine, Ford’s 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbo EcoBoost is a very compact and rather clever unit which, according to the manufacturer, can develop 118 horsepower and 57.6 mpg, however the engine will come in several choices, two diesels and two gasoline engines.
The main visual characteristic of the model being that it features no B-pillar so that the front doors will latch at the floor pan and header, while the sliding rear doors will latch to the floor and the slider. Opening them together will give you a massive sixty inches wide opening.
Whether or not by coincidence, the B-Max will also be produced in Romania, just like the Dacia Lodgy, at Automobile Craiova which became Ford’s Eastern European subsidiary back in 2008, this appears to be part of the company’s strategy to lower its losses in Europe for the coming future, as the losses for 2012 are estimated at around $600 million.
The projected number of units to be produced this year is 60.000 however the B-Max product director, Joerg Beyer, mentioned that the production for the first 12 months might exceed 100.000 units considering the unexpected amount of feedback received via social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Prices for the Ford B-Max are expected to start at around the 14.000 Euros with VAT.
