Last year, at Paris Motor Show Ford unveiled the Iosis-X Concept, an exciting five-door sports-crossover that was announced later on to go into production. To be called X-MAX, the production version will go on sale in early 2008 and will compete with Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.

Bold and sporty, the X-MAX takes many of its design cues from the Iosis-X. It features jutting tail-lights, chunky extended wheelarches and steeply angled rear pillars, first shown in the Concept. The interior (especially the dashboard ) is inspired by the Mondeo: high-quality materials and Ford's Human Machine Interface (HMI) control system displaying vital information in the driver's eyeline.

Build the Focus platform, the X-MAX is powered by a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine with an output of 222 hp. Also the X-MAX will be offered with a 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol engines taken from the Focus line-up, as well as the 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre TDCi diesels.

The Ford X-MAX will be unveiled in September at Frankfurt Motor Show, and will hit showrooms in early 2008, with pricing starting from around £16,000.