Not long ago, every mainstream automaker offered not just one, but several minivans, much as they do with SUVs today. For its part, Renault offered the small Modus, the compact Scenic and Grand Scenic and the midsize Espace, while Ford sold the B-Max, C-Max, S-Max and Galaxy in Europe.
But over the years, many of the Espace’s competitors have been phased out, or their nameplates transferred to crossovers or SUVs.
In the midsize category, where the current Espace competes, there were just three true minivans in the top 10 in 2022. The Ford S-Max was in seventh place with 7,804 sales, the Seat Alhambra was in eighth with 5,988 sales and the Ford Galaxy — riding on the same platform as the S-Max — was in ninth place with 5,636 sales.
The compact category had only three purpose-designed minivans as well. The Volkswagen Touran had 21,876 sales last year, the Citroën C4 SpaceTourer was second with 11,081 sales and the Renault Scenic saw 9,473 sales in 2022.
