At the 2002 Bologna Motor Show Fiat presented a variation on the SUV theme with the Simba concept. In this case the result is quite endearing. The Simba is based on the future Seicento-successor currently named "project 169" by Fiat and as such is a small city car with butch all-terrain aspirations.
It's obvious that Fiat is trying to find some sort of a niche with this concept; that of an off-road vehicle compact enough to slip through dense city traffic, spacious enough do the shopping and to pick up the kids and then capable enough to venture out to the forest or the mountains in comfort. I wouldn't be surprised if there actually is a market for cars like this. It's cute, characteristic, looks tough and is far more affordable and less wasteful than the regular gas guzzling four wheel drives which don't see much terrain anyway. That must appeal to some.

The Simba name seems to have something to do with the Savannah but most of us probably associate it with a Disney cartoon character. Somehow that doesn't seem entirely unfitting for this vehicle. Still, it looks serious enough with the bull bars, the roof rack running from front to rear, all the extra lights and the spare wheel on the roof. It shows an abundance of sturdy jet playful details which go together well and seem to bring the jungle within reach.
A small 4-cylinder diesel engine drives the four wheels by a viscous coupling to make it at home both on and off the road. The car's dimensions are rather boxy with a height of 1.73 m, a width of 1.63 m and a length of 3.68 m. Quite modest, isn't it. The Simba is finished with some Abarth badges on the sides, which might indicate an extra powerful engine.

Thumbs up for this design I guess. It's playful and original, though a bit of a show-off.

Ford enters the arena of spacious mono-volume family carriers with its very realistic C-Max concept, introduced in 2002 at the place of origin for this type of vehicles, the Paris Motor Show. Based on the popular Ford Focus this design seems ready to take on the Renault Scenics and Opel Zafiras. It looks like a tight package though maybe a bit to late to make a real impression on the current market leaders in this segment.
On the exterior it shows a clear Focus-family resemblance with a hint towards sportivity. The feature that's standing out most is its fashionable tinted glass roof, ensuring a bright interior atmosphere. Ford's angle in this design was to make it look less bulky and more saloon car like. Also they've coined the phrase "Multi Activity Vehicle" to describe it, as a way to avoid the regular space wagon and SUV associations.

However on the inside it distinguishes most from its competition. Instead of offering three rows of seats the C-Max fits only four individual Recaro sport seats. Quite remarkable for a family car. Still, the interior lay-out is flexible with a novel luggage space concept: a motorized slide-out tray comes out of the rear, capable of storing three pieces of luggage in a recessed section of the luggage compartment floor.
The interior is luxuriously trimmed with cream colored leather and brushed aluminum accents and is filled with electronic gadgets. Most remarkable of those is iRIS, the "integrated Remote Imaging System". It's developed in association with Hewlett Packard and is an inboard camera system which can send images from the interior of the car to a hand-held computer or PDA so people can check up on what's happening there while they're not in it. Apparently some parents have asked for a system like this. Just take your children with you, people, don't lock them up in a car!

Anyway, the reaction to the C-Max has been favorable (didn't Citroën object to the name?) and Ford has presented the production version of it at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show. I can't say I'm a big fan of cars like these, but this one does have some appeal to it.

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