Ford’s new B-Max does its party piece

We’ve seen plenty of pre-launch pics of the new Ford B-Max mini-MPV; the Fiesta based family-focused around-town-nipper, but here’s Ford designer, Erika Tsubaki, putting the practical openings to the test with the kind of big ‘n’ bulky bits ‘n’ bobs that kiddie-carriers everywhere will be pushing and shoving onboard.

The technical-talk behind the wide open door-spaces we see in action here are the B-pillars – the middle pillars holding the roof up, that are usually fixed to roof and floor – are, with the B-Max, built into the rear doors so that they can slid back and all but disappear, with said doors. Sliding doors are not a new idea of course; it’s how well they are engineered into the bodyshell from a weight and safety point of view.

Ford say they’ve nailed the sliding door design with strong yet light steel so B-Max drivers won’t feel a practicality-penalty for their dynamic doors in terms of handling-hindering extra weight.

Well, the lovely Erika certainly seems happy enough – those fold-flat front seats certainly look to make some extra wriggle room - and we’ll have to have a good tug ‘n’ slide for ourselves when B-Max rolls into Ford dealers this September.

www.ford.co.uk








By Daniel Anslow

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