The Ford S-Max has won the prestigious European car of the year 2007 title. In an extremely tight competition and with a shortlist of eight cars, the S-Max received 235 points from the 58 jury members, just two points ahead of the new Opel Corsa.
Jury members had 25 points to award to the shortlisted eight cars, with a maximum of 10 points to any one car. The winner received points from 57 of the 58 jury members, though only six gave the S-Max their top score. It secured several high-point secondary scores.
Some jury members felt the contenders for the 2007 title were good or merely competent, but not exceptional, with no car deserving or meriting the maximum 10 points. Only four jury members awarded any entrant the maximum score.
Of the other shortlisted cars, third place went to the new Citroen C4 Picasso, a seven-seat people carrier, which received the top scores of all the French jury members and finished with 222 points.
Fourth place went to the Skoda Roomster with 189 points, fifth to the Honda Civic with 148 points, sixth the Peugeot 207 with 144 points, seventh the Volvo C70 with 141 points and eight place went to the Fiat Grande Punto with 138 points.
It is Ford's fifth win in the awards, which were inaugurated in 1964. Its first success was in 1981 with the Escort. Its other victories came in 1986 with the Scorpio, in 1994 with the Mondeo and in 1999 with the Focus.