Ford Van... imported from Turkey!

[Harry P.]

http://www.foxnews.c...intcmp=features

[my80malibu]

It looks like a sprinter

[mnwildpunk]

One word ugly

[Joe Handley]

It looks like a sprinter

The Transit is from the same market, at least GM still has a truely North American van on the market..............do they even sell a van like this in Europe?

[Rob Hall]

The Transit is from the same market, at least GM still has a truely North American van on the market..............do they even sell a van like this in Europe?

GM has the Vivaro for it's Opel and Vauxhall brands...based on the Renault Traffic.

Replacing the ancient Econoline with the global Transit model has been in the works for some time, part of Ford's 'One Ford' initiative.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Rob Hall

[niteowl7710]

They'll probably import the cargo version from Turkey and build the passenger version in Kansas City, since there's that whole weird "Chicken Tax" thing about building passenger vans overseas and then shipping them to the United States.

[bbowser]

Our contractors are transitioning to the smaller ones as installation vehicles. We tried the same thing back in the late 90's with GMC Astro vans and Rangers (instead of full size P/Us) but they just can't take the pounding on the back roads loaded up. Also the mileage wasn't any better than full-size because they were so underpowered. They look swoopy though!

[Zarana-X]

The Transit Connect is also built in Turkey,( I think). It is based on the Focus platform. They import them as passenger vehicles, complete with windows, carpets and seats, then rip out the stuff and convert the majority of them to commercial vehicles. Due to the "chicken tax", which is 25%, all imported commmercial vehicles are marked up accordingly. This is why we got Subaru Brats with back seats, and Datsun pickups with mismatched step side beds (they were imported with cabs only). These measures allowed them to dodge the applicable tax.

[Joe Handley]

Our contractors are transitioning to the smaller ones as installation vehicles. We tried the same thing back in the late 90's with GMC Astro vans and Rangers (instead of full size P/Us) but they just can't take the pounding on the back roads loaded up. Also the mileage wasn't any better than full-size because they were so underpowered. They look swoopy though!

The railroads tried that in the 80's with the then new compact trucks and found that with the exception of the Jeep Cherokee (the only unibody of the bunch oddly enough) that they couldn't handle the abuse that normal sized trucks, especially when the highrail gear was bolted to it.

[Sixx]

So it's a foreign vehicle?? Like a Subaru or something?? LOL!!! I take that back...there is a Subaru plant here in Indiana! LOL!!

:huh:

[eizzle]

There's a Honda and Toyota plant to, Sixx. There are 3 manufacturing plants that make stuff for the foreign aiutomakers here in Greencastle. My Mazda 6 was made in flint, MI... In a

Union shop to!

[Draggon]

3rd paragraph.. .."relativley sleek" Yeah Gabe, it looks like a sprinter. The messed up thing is that being an old school guy, THIS is what a "sprinter" looks like:

[Longbox55]

Fors must be hurting in van sales. I do know that many national fleets (A&E, Sears, LinCare) have been switching over from Ford to the Chevrolet Express.

[Sixx]

There's a Honda and Toyota plant to, Sixx. There are 3 manufacturing plants that make stuff for the foreign aiutomakers here in Greencastle. My Mazda 6 was made in flint, MI... In a

Union shop to!

That cracks me up!!!!!! Foreign cars made in America...American cars made in foreign countries. :huh:

[eizzle]

Yeah, it seems like it would be easier to just make them in one place or the other... Whatever, I'm no business whiz.

[Jordan White]

The Transit Connect may still be built in Turkey, but it sounds like the full-size Transit will be built in Kansas City for the US (all versions).

http://www.autoblog....-and-diesel-po/

Edit: Yes it looks like a Sprinter, however the Transit has been around for much longer (plus all vans in Europe seem to have the same general look, since it must work best for space).

Edited September 7, 2012 by Jordan White

[Joe Handley]

I'm thinking the tall and narrow appearance of the Euro Vans is because of the kind of places they have to fit and the nose shape and small engines are likely do to the heavily taxed fuels they burn.

[Skydime]

Looks like a UPS van in a lighter brown from my view.

[Lownslow]

Fors must be hurting in van sales. I do know that many national fleets (A&E, Sears, LinCare) have been switching over from Ford to the Chevrolet Express.

i see more transits than i see chevy vans

[charlie8575]

Is it just me, or are they too tall visually for their width?

I wonder how the fleets will like the maintanence on those twin-turbo V6s, too? I'll bet a small-displacement V8 will be appearing to keep the fleet managers happy from that standpoint. I also don't see a one-ton van working well with one of those at all.

Oh well, for style and maintanence, I'll get a Chevy/GMC if I find myself in the market.

Charlie Larkin

[Longbox55]

i see more transits than i see chevy vans

I have yet to see the first Transit in my area, it's all E 250s and Express 2500s, with the odd B2500 Dodge or Sprinter every once in a while.

[Joe Handley]

There's a good number of the little Transit's around here, they seem to make great little shop vans for light duty use and maybe better than the cargo version of the Caravan. I still see more of the big Ford vans too, then again, I seem yo see almost as many G-Vans and B-Vans still in service as I do the newer Express vans!

[Longbox55]

Maybe that's why I'm not seeing commercial use Transits here. Most of the commercial use type vans in my area are 3/4 or 1 ton capacity full size vans, due to the need of carrying heavy loads. The only small vans in this area are vens that have ben converted into taxis.

Oh, and I have toake bakc my statement on not seeing any Transits, there is 1 small Transit in my area. It is not a commercial vehicle, though, but rather a private owned vehicle with a wheelchair lift conversion.

[eizzle]

Is it just me, or are they too tall visually for their width?

I wonder how the fleets will like the maintanence on those twin-turbo V6s, too? I'll bet a small-displacement V8 will be appearing to keep the fleet managers happy from that standpoint. I also don't see a one-ton van working well with one of those at all.

Oh well, for style and maintanence, I'll get a Chevy/GMC if I find myself in the market.

Charlie Larkin

It won't be much different than the maintanence on a turbo diesal. Probably a bit cheaper for the oil, but fuel might cost more, I know my little dodge SRT-4 had to have premium, but the ford engine might not be cranked up as much as that little sucker! I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your Chevy/Goverment Motors comment.

[Longbox55]

One of the reasons that the big fleets are changing over to the GM vans is the lower maintainance costs over the Econoline. The Econoline is well known for eating up brakes and balljoints, a problem the GM vans do not have.