Transit takes on Europe

The 2006 Van of the Year is aiming to seduce van buyers away from German, French and Italian models and come back to British. Alan Bunting reports. Steve Kimber, who took over in April as Ford of Britain's commercial vehicle director, has no illusions about the strength of the competition faced by the latest big Transit. But as someone who has been involved with CVs at Ford for 12 years, 43-year-old Kimber exudes confidence that the attention to product quality and detail that has gone into the newly upgraded 2.7 to 4.25 - tonne range will win back many of those buyers who ran Transits in years gone by, but were later seduced away by German, French or Italian rivals.

When Motor Transport talked to Kimber he was, not surprisingly, keen to spell out what he sees as the key operational attractions of the latest vans and chassis-cabs to bear the 40-year-old Transit name. He says his years in commercial vehicle product planning at Ford gave him an acute awareness of customer motivations augmented, in the lead up to this summer's launch, by the deliberations of 'panel groups' at the company's Dunton engineering centre. Supporting feedback from buyers has in the last few years emphasised the importance of providing passenger car features, notably those that make vans and light trucks easier to drive. "For all the competitors in the van market, the bar has definitely been raised when it comes to vehicle refinement," says Kimber, "but we think we've been pretty successful in that area." He refers to the citation which came with the Transit's 2006 Van of the Year award, praising Ford's constructive response to customer demand for greater refinement and more driver comfort and convenience.

For the owner-drivers and small tradesmen that account for a sizeable percentage of the UK 'medium van' market, driver appeal - which has to include lively performance - has become an increasingly important sales factor. And while Kimber agrees that fleet purchases are subject to different motivations, he points out that the rating of a van in the eyes of drivers remains critical.

He concedes that there might not be the same need for 3.5 - tonne van operators, as for the haulier running 44 tonne artics, to attract scarce good drivers with lavish option packages. But it is now widely recognised that drivers will treat their vehicles with more respect - leading to lower fuel and repair bills - if they like what they have been given to drive. That, he says, is evident from the fact that "if you give a company van driver what he regards as a pig of a vehicle, he's likely to try and destroy it". Recent experience has shown, says Kimber, that surprisingly minor features can nowadays clinch a sale, especially in the retail, i.e. non-fleet segment. As examples, he cites the latest Transit's sat-nav option and the provision of a mobile phone charging point inside the glovebox, out of sight of miscreants.

Ford's latest Dagenham-built diesel engines meeting Euro 4 emission standards have brought a claimed 3 to 4% improvement in Transit fuel economy, which Kimber says might not be of major importance to the average van or dropside buyer covering less than say 16,000km a year. But he points out that an increasing number of panel or box vans, especially in the 3.5 - tonne category, are now being bought for long-distance - typically express courier - operations, where fuel costs have become ever more significant.

Kimber is keen to add that acceleration performance has also been enhanced through the uprated torque of the new Ford diesels - something which he is confident will appeal to all would-be buyers. The 2.4 litre engine for example, rated at 140hp, falls short of the rival Mercedes 2.2 litre's 150hp but thanks to its larger swept volume, maximum torque is some 14% higher than its German rivals at 375Nm. At present the Transit range extends up to 4.25 - tonnes gvw, which arguably puts it at a disadvantage against the Mercedes and VW competition now offering gross weights up to 5 - tonnes. It has given the German vehicles, and the Sprinter in particular, an important edge, notably in the front-line ambulance market. Ford is acutely aware of the position, says Kimber, telling enquirers to 'watch this space'.