All-new Ford C-MAX to debut at the Frankfurt show. Click to enlarge.

Other advances include features to enhance convenience and safety such as semi-automatic parallel parking and a blind-spot detection system.

The Ford C-MAX will be launched in the second half of 2010 and is the first in a new generation of global vehicles developed from Ford’s new C-segment platform, scheduled for introduction over the next several years. The global range will also include the all-new Ford Focus coming in late 2010.

The 1.6L EcoBoost is the third of the family to be announced by Ford. The first engine in the EcoBoost line, a 3.5L, V6 engine (earlier post), is being applied in the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO and Flex and Lincoln MKS and MKT.

In July, Ford officially announced the second member of its turbocharged, gasoline direct-injection EcoBoost family, a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder version that will go on sale next year. (Earlier post.)

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, Ford had also shown a Lincoln C (C-size) concept car powered by a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder EcoBoost engine mated to a dual-clutch Powershift Transmission. The 1.6L engine in the concept featured twin independent variable camshaft timing (TI-VCT)—a powertrain system also being used in the production 2.0L engine, the first EcoBoost production engine to include the system.

Further details about the new Ford C-MAX will be released at Ford’s Frankfurt press conference on 15 September.