Ford will replace half of its eight-strong MPV range here in the UK in the second half of 2015.

Extensively restyled and updated versions of the C-Max and Grand C-Max will go on sale in August alongside the redesigned S-Max based on the platform of the fourth generation Mondeo, and they will be followed soon afterwards by a replacement Galaxy, which also has its roots in the Mondeo.

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If anyone needed proof that the MPV, far from being rendered close to extinction by the proliferation of SUVs and crossovers, is still in fairly rude health, this is it. Trade may not be quite as roaring as it once was, but there is still business to be done.

By far the bulk of MPV sales are in the segment where the new C-Max and Grand C-Max will compete. Last year sales in this sector of the market across Europe amounted to 750,000, or 5% of total industry volume, compared with 900,000 (6%) in 2013. So, the decline goes on – but not everywhere.

“In the UK it’s been a static market for a couple of years,” says Ford of Britain marketing director Anthony Ireson, “but we didn’t have as far to fall. 

“We never achieved the 40% of C-segment sales with MAVs [Ford prefers to call them multi-activity vehicles than multi-purpose vehicles] that was forecast like they did in France – but then the C-segment MAV was a French invention, by Renault.”

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In the UK sales are bolstered by the Motability scheme for disabled drivers, admitted Ireson.

“We do a lot of Motability with the C-Max,” he said, “but there’s still a profit in that. We look upon them as three-year retail cars. The cliché of the school-run car just isn’t true – young families can’t afford them. But the secondhand market is just as important and that’s where you’re likely to see them outside schools.”