2018 Ford C-Max Reviews

This week, Ferrari revealed the replacement for its SF90 Spider supercar, the 849 Testarossa Spider, and my first thought was that I’m glad convertibles are still on the cards - knowing full well that I would likely never be in a position to own this model.

Ford to resurrect its Focus hatch as a hybrid and electric SUV?

It’s never a good sign when car companies don’t tell you how many cars they’ve sold.Typically car makers love to spread the word about how successful it has  been and tell you exactly how beloved its vehicles are. So when they decided not to reveal the details of their newest model’s popularity, it does raise red flags.Which suggests sales of the new Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid (PHEV) may not be reaching the highest heights that the company was hoping for. When asked for details on the hybrid Ranger’s success, a Ford spokesperson told CarsGuide that the company doesn’t break out sales data for its individual models.Instead it told us this: “We are pleased to see customers nationwide adopting new technology and reaping the benefits of Ranger Hybrid, such as Pro Power On Board, to get the most out of their vehicle.”You’ll notice at no point did it indicate how many “customers” are enjoying these benefits. It could be hundreds or it could be two (but that seems unlikely).To be fair, Ford has never revealed the details of its individual models, namely its flagship Raptor, which is believed to be a sales success. So just because they won’t say how many customers have plugged-in to Ranger, it doesn’t mean it’s a sales flop.But if car makers were hoping that the plug-in hybrid technology would be the saviour of the ute segment, there are signs that there is still a long way to go before customers fully embrace this new breed of ute.The best example we have is the BYD Shark 6. Why? Because it’s an entirely PHEV-powered ute and therefore all of its published sales are the PHEV-powered model.So far in 2025, year-to-date to August, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) tells us that BYD has sold 12,918 Shark 6. GWM revealed to CarsGuide that it has sold 441 Cannon Alpha PHEV in the four months it has been on sale.The FCAI also tells us that there have been 13,936 PHEV ‘commercial vehicles’ sold, which doesn’t leave a lot of sales for the rest of the PHEV commercial offerings (which includes the Ranger) to pick up - just 607 to be precise.Those three utes are the most notable PHEV-powered workhorses, so the success or failure of them will shape the course of the market for years to come. If they become a popular new alternative to turbo diesel engines, as the Shark 6 is threatening to do, then it will give rival brands the confidence to push ahead with their own. Alternatively, if they fade away after a strong start, it will likely mean the end of PHEV utes for the foreseeable future.Don’t believe me? Compare the amount of ‘Raptor rival’ tough utes on sale today and then think back to how many convertible SUVs you saw after the Range Rover Evoque drop-top flopped…There is no question the Shark 6 has made an impact, in a crowded and highly-competitive market the BYD is already the fourth best-selling 4x4 ute this year, behind only the Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max — and after missing the month of January.However, there are two very big months on the Shark’s books, specifically the 2810 sales in March and 2993 sales in June. Is it a coincidence that the fringe benefit tax on PHEVs ended on April 1 and EV Direct handed over the reins of BYD to the factory in July…Other than those two outliers, the Shark consistently does between 1200-1300 sales a month, which is solid but still well behind the Ranger and HiLux (although so is everything else).If the Shark can maintain its current rate of sales, then that’s probably enough to convince others of the merits of entering the PHEV ute contest. Other brands have already begun openly discussing it, Hyundai, for example, has made it clear it believes introducing another diesel-powered ute is simply not a starter for its planned entry later this decade.But whether or not how many brands drop diesel for hybrids will likely play out in the coming months and years, as the Shark 6, Ranger and Cannon Alpha carve a trail for the others to follow… or ignore.

Ford makes its plug-in Ranger a whole lot cooler overseas.

Australia has a ute problem.

Ford's brand-defining new model attack has officially landed in Australia, with the auto giant going on a trademarking spree to secure six model names for our market.The news follows a huge Ford reveal earlier this month, with the brand in the USA unveiling a US$5 billion push into the EV space via a "Universal EV Platform" that will spawn a series of affordable vehicles.Not just a platform, but an assembly process, too. Ford's announcement promised cheaper, faster and less parts-heavy production, which would flow on as savings to customers.First will be a circa US$30,000 pickup truck with four doors and a focus on passenger and tray space.And now Ford in Australia has been on a trademarking spree, securing the names 'FUZE', 'HIVE', 'MYTHIC', 'FATHOM', 'EVOS' and 'RANCHERO' for our market.It's that last name that is most of interest, given that the trademark application specifically refers to 'pick-up trucks' among its potential uses, and that it is the name of an old US car-based pickup, discontinued in the late 1970s, which blended car-like comfort with ute-like practicality.While Fuze, Hive, Mythic and Fathom have all been touted as Ford's future EV product, the Evos is also of interest, given its already been applied to a model, and one that has global potential.Built in China as a partnership between Ford and Changan, the crossover SUV was renamed the Mondeo Sport in China last year, so whether this new trademark means a new Evos is coming, or that the Mondeo Sport could retain the Evos name in some international markets, remains to be seen.As far as the Ranchero goes, Ford's first Universal EV Platform vehicle – the four-door mid-size ute – will roll out of Ford's Louisville Kentucky pant in 2027, with a price that would equate to roughly $46,000 here.Finally, a word of caution — not all trademarks materialise into actual product, and brands have been known to secure names in international markers they have no intention of launching in. What this trademarking spree turns into? We'll have to wait and see.

New Chinese carmakers such as Xiaomi, Xpeng and Nio are leaving established manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan and Mazda behind when it comes to technology a new report has found, leaving doubts about whether the traditional players can ever catch up.

Ford is reportedly working on a hardcore off-road supercar to sit at the top of its Raptor line-up.

‘The empire strikes back: Ford’s plan to battle China’ was the headline we ran last week when the Blue Oval revealed plans for its new Universal EV Platform.For Ford’s sake, I hope they don’t end up like the Empire at the end of Return of the Jedi, but there does seem to be a real danger that Ford is making the same mistake the bad guys in Star Wars did — repeating themselves and being exposed by a rising rebellion.To translate that for non-Star Wars nerds like myself. The Universal EV Platform is meant to be Ford’s answer to China’s new wave of cost-effective electric vehicles. It will be a scalable platform, which will allow Ford to offer multiple models of different shapes and sizes.Ford has said it will start with a ‘mid-size pickup’ (or ute in the Aussie vernacular), which will join the iconic F-150 and city-friendly Maverick in the brand’s US pickup lineup.Ford claims that the Universal EV Platform will require 20 per cent fewer parts, 25 per cent fewer fasteners, 40 per cent fewer workstations in the production facility and be 15 per cent faster to assemble when compared to a “typical vehicle”.That all sounds great on paper, and certainly a pickup would seem like a good choice in the US market… except both mid-size and electric pickups have yet to show any signs of long-term success in the US or, to be blunt, any market.Americans love the F-150, they bought more than 732,000 examples of the big ute in 2024. But only a tiny fraction, just 4.5 per cent, was the all-electric F-150 Lightning (33,510 in total). And if you look at the existing mid-size pickup Ford offers in the US, the Ranger, it managed just over 46,000 sales. If you look at the mid-size electric pickups that are currently available in the US market, the news doesn’t get much better for Ford. The controversial Tesla Cybertruck reportedly only found 37,000 buyers and the Rivian R1T is still a very niche proposition with circa-15,000 sales.So it’s not clear why Ford is so confident that an electric mid-size pickup is the right answer, but the company is definitely confident.“I don’t think new EV startups will keep up with our Ford engineers and manufacturing teams making this a reality,” said Doug Field, Ford chief EV, digital and design officer. “New ideas are easy. But innovation is delivering ideas, in a way that millions can access.”Simplified parts and production methods are great, and should have a tangible impact on the starting price if Ford lives up to its hype, but having the most efficient production method does mean a car will resonate with buyers.Nobody buys a car because it has 25 per cent fewer fasteners. They buy a car (or mid-size pickup) because it suits their lifestyle and budget. Yet there is no clear and definitive evidence that there is a sizeable market for such a vehicle.Perhaps Ford is confident that it can out-perform both Tesla and Rivian. Even then, though, that’s 55,000 sales per year, is that enough to make such a vehicle profitable?To its credit, while the F-150 Lightning has underwhelmed, Ford has managed to carve itself a new place in the ute market with the smaller, SUV-based Maverick. It sold over 131,000 units in 2024, compared to just 32,000 Hyundai Santa Fe — despite the latter being first to market.But Ford isn’t launching its new electric ute into a vacuum. Slate Auto, a new car company with the financial backing of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, also plans to launch a simple, affordable and customisable small ute/pickup.The Slate Truck will be a more direct rival to the Maverick, rather than the new ‘Universal’ pickup, but the same questions around the market desire for this type of vehicle remain.Ford will obviously have other models it can spin-off from the Universal EV Platform to amortise the cost of development, but even so, the very slow transition to electric vehicles means any hope of mainstream success for electric utes seems to be a long way off in the future.Former Hyundai Canada and now Hyundai Australia boss Don Romano has a very different take on the current state of the market, which sees the Chinese brands undercutting the so-called legacy car makers. He believes the Chinese industry is being supported at an unsustainable level and eventually it will fall back into the reaches of the likes of Hyundai, Ford and others.”The real issue when you talk about competitiveness is probably when you look at Chinese EVs, and the question I’d have is ‘how long can they sustain that low price’ when we’re all using the same materials and the same equipment?’,” Romano said in a recent interview.“Eventually, when you look at the same systems that are used to build these cars and the same equipment and the same material, eventually, it comes to an equilibrium where we’re all having on the same cost factor that we’re going to have to all live with. And then the pricing really just comes down to what it takes to distribute the cars and market the cars. So I don’t think any change in our competitive pricing is something that is a long-term issue. I think we’re going to ultimately all be in the same bandwidth on a car-by-car basis.“I don’t know how they do it other than, you know, I read the same things you do about government intervention and support… “It’s one big world that we all live in and we’re all going to be living in the same economic environment, so whatever advantage one country has over another, and I’ve seen this happen in my 40 years, where it used to be cheaper to build in one country than another, and then suddenly it’s just as expensive, I think that’s ultimately going to happen. Whether that’s in my lifetime or not, that I can’t answer. But for right now it appears they have it.”Will Romano be proved right in time? Will Ford’s early call pay off and give it the advantage when customers do come rushing for an electric ute? Or will a new player like Slate change the market? Only time will tell, but hopefully none of it ends in a big bang like a Star Wars movie…

The Ford Ranger and Ford Everest share much in common, with the ute-based SUV borrowing the Ranger's big V6 diesel engine, its rugged capability and its ladder-frame platform. But which is the better family car? We put newly minted dad, Andrew Chesterton, behind the wheel of both to answer that very question.