China Car Times

The Ford S-Max is a pretty nice 7 seater MPV for the European and Chinese markets, in Europe the S-Max is a best seller, however Chinese consumers appear to have shunned the S-Max! In a market where pretty much any car will sell (including Maestros and Itals) the S-Max has been a very poor seller when compared to the relative success of the Mondeo and the Focus. Sales of the S-Max since launch were reportedly only 450 cars, not exactly great for Chang’an Ford.

One Chinese website listed the 6 advantages and disadvantes of the current 7 seater S-max as:

1. Safety - The S-Max has a 5 star safety rating
2. Platform - The Smax is based on a B class platform, namely the new Mondeo
3. Power - The 2.3l engine does not fail to satisfy requests for power from the driver
4. Economy - Despite being a bigger engined car, the Smax is still pretty economical
5. Space - The Smax has a lot of leg room, including the rear row of seats. There is plenty of room for people and luggage.
6. Pricing - The Smax gives a lot for a little when compared to its rivals (Honda Odyssey, Buick MPV) but gives it a lower price.

6 Disadvantages of the Smax

1. The power - The overseas version of the Smax uses a 2.5 Turbo, the Chinese version uses a watered down 2.3l naturally aspirated engine. Why water it down?
2. Sunroof - The Smax doesnt come with a sunroof as of yet, although we hear that in the future the Smax may come with a panoramic roof that can be opened.
3. Safety -As with the power, the safety equipment has also been lowered for the Chinese market. Overseas models come with ESP and 11 airbags, in contrast the Chinese version doesn’t have ESP, and has 9 airbags.
4. Third Row of seats - The Chinese motoring press described the 3rd row of seats in the S-Max as being rather useless and meaningless for tall people!
5. No Spare Tyre - The S-Max doesnt come with a spare wheel. Apparently the S-Max comes with a self inflation kit and tyre sealant, this will probably be enough to let your S-Max soldier onto the nearest garage for repairs, but we do wonder why Ford wouldnt stick a spare tyre in. Perhaps they’ll have space for one in the 5 seater S-Max.

The five seater S-Max may go some way to rectify some of the above issues - with out the third row of seats, the S-Max will have a great deal for more boot space for luggage, and perhaps a spare tyre. The 7 seater S-Max currently sells for 180,000rmb to 210,000rmb which is far below the ever popular Honda Odyssey (190,000rmb to 280,000rmb)

One thing that always bothered China Car Times is the lack of a Chinese name for the S-Max, which we think might effect the overall media campaign, not every Chinese person can speak English. The S-Max is quite hard to pronounce for native Chinese speakers that haven’t had English language training but Chang’an Ford continue to use the English S-Max name in advertisements. Perhaps Christening the S-Max with a Chinese name would further sales, taking it mainstream instead of just being ‘that Ford MPVthingy‘ in Chinese minds.

The 5 seater S-Max priced in the 150,000rmb range would surely be a pure winner for middle class families who want more space, but don’t need 7 seats and the higher road tax for driving a 7 seater vehicle.