PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. One of the fastest-growing 'new' segments in motordom in recent years has been the MPV area, in particular the 'compacts' and increasingly the 'smalls'. And that is reflected in this year's Paris show, with most of the major makers showing their latest, or their first offerings.

And Opel are really pushing out the boat with their new Corsa-based Meriva, because literally every poster site in the Paris Porte de Versailles metro station serving the show site is advertising Merivas.

And on their stand itself they were displaying in every way possible how flexible the car is, with a high-mounted cutaway version exhibiting the various seating positions by remote control. Down at people level, stand staff were doing the same thing 'hands-on'.

The company is clearly determined to take for the small segment what it achieved with its Zafira in the next size up. The interior has a similar overall look (below) to that of the latest Vectra.

Peugeot were also putting down a marker that they'll be getting into the fray, with their sweet little Sesame MPV (above) giving us all the positions, with the help of a pair of models - one man, one woman. As it happens, he was one of only two male models that we noticed at the show, and we'll be doing a piece later on about the 'glamour' and fashion aspects.

One of the things that surprised us all was the much-delayed Focus MPV, which was shown in a 'concept' form - the C-Max (above) - that is about as close as can be got to what will be in Ireland next mid-year (which is why it features in this article rather than in an upcoming one about the show's concepts).

Because part of the reason it was delayed, we thought, was because the success of the 7-seater Zafira from Opel meant Ford decided to have a rethink of their Focus-based version with a view to giving it seven seats.

Well, the Focus C-Max is only a 5-seater. And we're told that's what it will remain, with the successful Galaxy in the next level up staying as the brand's 7-seat model.

Anyway, the concept looked very nice indeed when it was revealed, though the designers also refrained from going very New Edge in their styling, even at the front (below). This is a segment where practicality and a certain degree of conservatism rules, as Fiat found with their Multipla.

Moving on up to the full-size people-carriers, Citroen's C8 (above) was available to examine in a number of different specification levels, and is well into contention as being one of the most comfortable and nicer machines in this class.

Following a trend which seems to have swept in from the Nissan Primera, the C8 and several other cars at the show has centralised instrumentation, and depending on the luxury level chosen, are both quite different in execution. But the high-spec one is very attractive indeed, and seems to be an easy setup from which to quickly assimilate any required information.

Mazda's generically-named MPV (above) has also been upgraded, mainly in comfort terms. But the large people-carrier that was absolutely the one which attracted most attention was the Renault Espace (below), which we have previewed before on IrishCar.Com. This latest generation has a number of style elements seen in recent large and small cars from Renault, though in a much less avant-garde form - mainly the front end treatment.

It continues the mid-dash digital instrumentation which the previous version had, but in what seems to be a larger style. Exceptionally comfortable-looking, what was Europe's first MPV is still striding out there to head up the posse. We know that this one will also be available with the 3-litre turbodiesel and 3.5-litre V6 petrol which are options in the VelSatis, which should make it a very nice car indeed.

Again, the above are a selection of the cars that particularly caught our attention. But indications of what might be upcoming will be discussed in our 'concepts' article.

Keep moving, people.