w Econoline production stopped, where do you see light industrial buyers going?
 

The King for decades! retired
The downsized replacement from world Ford is cute, more mpg., and aero;
BUT!!! It's pretty small.

In America, do you think most companies w a long past relationship w
Econolines might now go with a Dodge Sprinter, or its almost lookalike
Freightliner ???

Or will price instantly help GM, just heard their Chevy van considered
extremely dirty emission wise?

What thinkest, thou?

I think you're confusing the transit connect with the regular transit van which is huge compared to the econoline. I can't believe the overweight and undersized econoline suvived this long to be honest.

This is the van that will be replacing the econoline, not the connect which is currently sold in the US. Its produced in FWD, RWD and AWD versions, all diesels. The LWB high roof model makes the econoline look like a toy.
http://www.themustangnews.com/conten...0/Transit1.jpg

http://images.compucars.co.uk/108293...el_4557028.jpg

The new Nissan NV will take up some of the slack:

http://www.nissanpedia.org/wp-conten...san_nv_van.jpg

Nissan Commercial Vehicles: Utility & Cargo Vans, Pickup Trucks, Fleet Vehicles

Pretty small ?
Surely, you can have the Transit in a small version - if that's what you want.
You can equally have it in a medium, big, or huge version - if that's what you need.

The Transit comes in 3 roof heights, 3 wheelbases, and 4 lengths - aside from the cabin/chassis versions.
Plenty of choice, plenty of capabilities, and plenty for European workers.
There's no reason why they wouldn't work for US workers.

Don't be fooled by the GVW - the 3500 kg / 7700 lbs limit is there because that's the limit in Europe to drive them using a car licence.
Above that weight, you need a truck licence here.


They'll likely be cheaper than the outgoing econoline to buy (when looking at the US Econoline and EU Transit prices) and most importantly, cheaper to use.

Saw this with MI manufacturer plates on my morning commute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrfu5FrrHlY

The Econoline was a US only antique. I've driven one, it was cr@p. We run a few Transits in the company I work for and they are really good - FWD or RWD.

If you count every version of the Transit on sale here (UK) including each wheelbase, drivetrain, engine and gearbox there are 2000+ to choose from and only one is engine Petrol powered and that is advertised as "LPG friendly" - there is a signal maybe ?

I suspect the US version will include more petrol engines and if it does I suspect it may steal a lot of sales from "tradesmen" who run F-150s - there is a pickup variant after all and it does drive better that a lot of cars here which is more than can be said of the F-150.

Also Pickups are rare here (except for the crew-cab craze currently on) - because stuff put in the rear bed tends to get stolen a lot.

I stand, sit down, and, or lie down; corrected!!!

Thats the beauty of this forum: information flows!

I really liked the econoline. Seating position was soooo great.

Drove one for around 60 000km 2 years ago. The fleet where I was working only had v8 4.6l in them. They were real gas pig at around 10mpg. They weren't really great on ice&snow.

23L/100km ?

The Ford Transit consumption figures:
Overview: Ford - Transit - Spritmonitor.de

I can see a lot of unprejudiced people who are going to like their new Ford vans - especially those people who pay for the fuel.


The "transit connect" is a small van, entirely different from the "normal" transit

Yep I was getting right around 20-25l/100km, it was also equipped with a roof rack with ladder and strobe. Also it had the giant mirrors upgrade. Climate here is also colder, at -30C they were real gas pig!

The fleet consisted mostly of dodge caravan and econoline, even the caravan with the ladder on top would only get 14-16l/100km, these things really destroyed the aerodynamics.

I never got the chance to try a transit connect, but I'm sure these surpass the econoline especially in handling, some friends still working there told me they preferred the transit connect over the caravan because it drives and handle pretty much like a normal car.