I've just returned from two weeks in Germany and England and as always when I go overseas I was awestruck by the number and variety of interesting cars that we don't get in North America. (One might also say that it's the marketing executives who don't get it.) Many of these cars are hatchbacks in one form or another, demonstrating that decent interior room can be created in an incredibly small interior. Some are beautiful while others are beautiful only in a functional sense. Because the Europeans view cars differently than we do it's not unusual to find compact hatches fully fitted with luxury trim plus the latest technological gadgetry. Again, the Europeans see nothing odd about paying extra for this whereas too many North Americans still equate small with cheap. Coming to the US and Canada in 2010, fortunately, is a new car typical of what I saw during my trip: the Ford C-Max.

A compact MPV (multi-purpose vehicle), the C-Max has been developed on Ford's new C-segment platform, which also underpins the European Focus, due here next year as well. Interestingly the C-Max comes in two wheelbases, the shorter with conventional rear doors and a sportier appearance, the longer with seven seats and a sliding rear door. At the moment the Grand C-Max version is due to cross the Atlantic but Ford's execs would be out of their minds not to include the five-seater. It's all the car most of us really need. Power will come from Ford's new 1.6-liter EcoBoost turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine. Europe will get a choice of diesels; America may have to wait. After all, why would we need an engine that offers considerable more torque and cuts fuel consumption by up to twenty-five-percent? Change comes slowly in our conservative market but I'll take the European way any day.