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Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
AFAIK it's the only FWD full-size van available there.
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The Promaster is the only full-size FWD sold in the USA. It was introduced to the USA in 2013 and has run a distant 4th behind the offerings from Ford and GM despite selling for thousands of dollars less. The Ford E-Series is 28 years old and being retired this year but still manages to outsell the Promaster. The 17 year old Chevy Express outsells it 2-1. The new Ford Transit outsells the Promaster 3 to 1.
Both the Transit and Sprinter are available in a FWD versions but Ford and Mercedes decided not to sell the FWD versions in the USA. I would guess the poor sales of the Promaster has something to do with that.
FWD is a rather poor fit for a cargo van intended to actually do work. Putting weight into the van shifts the weight distribution away from the drive wheels. Yes, it saves a bit of weight (the FWD Sprinter is 220 lbs lighter than the RWD version) but that is a small weight savings for a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 lbs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
Vans are still prevalent as ambulance in Brazil, and width is not so much of an issue at all.
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That is fine for Brazil. In the USA Ambulances have to meet these 50 pages of specificaitons:
http://www.groundvehiclestandard.org...l_7.1.2019.pdf
Those specs include things like a minimum distance from the jump seat to the gurney and minimum widths for the aisle around the gurney. It is rather difficult to meet those requirement and carry all the equipment necessary. It also means that you can only have an aisle on one side of the patient which makes care more difficult.
But again - The USA market has all types of vans available. FWD unibody, RWD unibody, and RWD body-on-frame. Today the commercial buyers in the USA choose to buy RWD van. It isn't about redneck showing off since nobody buys a commercial van to show off.
If you want to talk about over-sized ambulances here you go. A Chicago Fire ambulance built on a Freightliner Class 6 truck chassis
