Q&A: Is the MPV back?
As Renault’s new Espace turns SUV, Paul Horrell investigates the future of the people-carrier
Has the most maligned car class found a route back into buyers’ hearts?
What happened to MPVs?
Every mainstream car range once had one, or more. Tall cars with one-box silhouettes, designed to eke the maximum interior space from a given overall size. Clever doors let you into an interior with endless permutations of folding, sliding, removable seats for any combination of people and stuff. They were brilliantly useful vehicles. And now no one seems to want them. “This is the fastest-shrinking segment in Europe,” says Karl-Thomas Neumann, boss of Opel and Vauxhall in Europe.
Why?
Image. They look dull and carry an unshakeable school-run stigma.
So how do you transport a family?
Increasingly, with an SUV.
Huh? But they’re heavy and cumbersome and their off-road chassis squeeze the interior space, no?
When did you last look?
Excuse me, I ask the questions. So what’s changed with SUVs?
Some of them turned into crossovers. Most of them don’t even have 4WD. Their wheel travel is smaller so they don’t need spacious arches and bulky axles. They’re based on car platforms, so they’re lighter and lower in drag than ever. But they still look rugged, like their owners have a life beyond minicabbing for their kids.
How far is the trend going?
Renault, stalwart of the big MPV scene, has just revealed an Espace replacement – which won’t reach the UK – with definite crossover genes. It’s got a more obvious bonnet now, and tough-looking cladding at the base of the body. Sure, it will still seat up to seven people, and seats are removable. But now it’s lower overall and is 250kg lighter than the former seven-seat version.
Any more?
Vauxhall will use Peugeot-Citroen platforms for its next Zafira and Meriva. And, again, they won’t be as boxy. Says Neumann: “People want the SUV look and the high seating position, but true SUVs will always be bad actors in CO2. So we need the SUV look in fuel-efficient ways. The Meriva and Zafira [replacements] will develop in this direction.” Sounds just like the Espace recipe. Over at Ford, they’re replacing the Galaxy and S-Max, but Ford isn’t putting all its eggs in that basket. Those two will be joined by the Edge seven-seat crossover.
Is there any hope for the MPV?
A decade ago, there was supposed to be a boom in mini-MPVs. Remember the Renault Modus? Ford belatedly rivalled it with the B-Max, and Fiat with the 500L. But the Modus didn’t do well and was replaced by the Captur faux-by-four. Ford’s EcoSport crossover does well; the B-Max, not so. Fiat dealers are waiting for the 500X crossover to augment the 500L. Still, in the meat of the mid-size car market you’ll always get the Scenic and Picasso and C-Max, serving a rump of buyers who want absolute practicality over image.