The seven-seater C-Max has sliding doors as favoured by parents trying to get their kids in and out in a busy car park.
LAST week Paul Garrington from www.havealovelytime.com travelled to the Frankfurt Motor Show, courtesy of Ford.
At the show, Ford gave a sneak peek at its seven-seater MPV Grand C-Max range which will reportedly hit the streets next summer.
We asked you for questions to put to Ford’s senior personnel at the show.
The first resulting podcast is of Paul’s interview with Ford’s vice president of environmental affairs, Dr Wolfgang Schneider, answering questions submitted by readers about the environmental impact of Ford’s cars.
Click on the small triangular play button to hear each podcast.
In the second podcast, the chief designer of Ford’s latest C-Max model, Andrew Mottram, answers your questions about how Ford cars are designed for the family.
Not surprisingly, we wanted to know how much Ford listens to parents and how are Ford making their vehicles more economical and environmentally sound for families?
We were also asked to address road safety and availability of vehicles suitable for larger families – say with twins, triplets or more.
Specific questions included:
Would they consider designing more cars with sliding doors so there’s space for me and my baby bump to lift two little ones out of the car without my car door whacking the car next to me?
I’d like to know more about safety – as cars are more robust these days why are child seats a legal requirement when in our day (in unsafer cars) we just leapt freely around in the back?
Is it better to buy a car that’s economical with higher fuel emissions or one which is less economical with lower fuel emissions? I don’t really understand how that works.
We already have a big car and probably get tutted at by environmentalists; it might have to be a bigger one when third baby arrives. Can a big safe family car be designed which doesn’t have an environmental image problem?
A current C-Max
I’d like to have an option to have a more wash-downable interior when you have kids. Carpet is a nightmare. Couldn’t they have removable carpets in some models? What about plastic removable washable seats?
How easily can the seats in new cars being developed be lowered, raised and adapted when needed? What are Ford doing to help parents who get frustrated loading and unloading large amounts of shopping or buggies?
Thanks to:
Laura at Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy
For their questions
Key points covered in the podcasts are:
* How Ford believe the unveiling of their new Grand C-max answer families’ concerns on the environment.
* Recognition that “zero noise” traffic is not safe
* Why sliding doors and easier to manage seats have been introduced because of parents’ requirements
* Why a family friendly seven-seater vehicle with “just in case” space was a challenge to design when it comes to also looking “dynamic”
* An explanation of how Ford feels it is listening to parents
* How designers have looked at ‘stain guards’ to help parents with spillages etc
One question that Paul wasn’t able to ask in his interviews was:
I’d want to know what car seats were compatible with the cars. It’s a pain in the rear finding out.
We asked Ford’s PR team to answer.
They said: ”We have a Ford Customer Service division that looks after accessories. They work with baby seat manufacturers but also have Ford branded seats that are purpose designed for our cars. The Ford dealers should be able to talk to parents about these options when they buy a car, including
other aspects of child safety like air bags, seatbelts and booster seats. Some models, like the Galaxy have can be ordered with integral child seats, for example.”
* This is the first of three posts from the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Two more reports will follow in the coming days.
I’d like to say a massive thanks and well done to Paul for his brilliant work on these podcasts. I well remember how nerve wracking asking questions at a press conference can be and considering he has never done anything like this before, he did a brilliant job.
We’d also like to say thank you to Katie Streten at Imagination for allowing us to present our readers’ questions to the designers.
More blog posts about Ford at the Frankfurt Motor Show:
Our reaction at being invited.
TheGreenCarWebsite reveals more details about the launch of the seven-seater C-Max.
Related posts:
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