Ford Motor Company Transit (van)

Not to be confused with the Ford Transit bus.

Ford Transit

Years of manufacture	1965 to present
Length	5.5 to 6.7 metres
Width	2066 millimetres
Power/Fuel	CNG, diesel, gasoline, propane

The Ford Transit is a commercial vehicle platform for cargo or passenger van, minibus, and chassis applications. The Transit is sold globally, which as of 2013, includes Canada and the United States.

Recent history

In December 2011, Ford announced that their E-Series, sold in the North American market, would be phased out in favour of the Transit. The move would help Ford consolidate its product lines globally. The new Transit was launched at the 2013 North American International Autoshow and began being sold for the 2015 model-year. Due to the popularity of the E-Series, it is still being sold for chassis applications alongside the Transit for the time being.

The latest generation Transit has a completely redesigned Kinetic exterior and interior with improved ergonomics as well as increased shoulder room and head room. The cargo van boasts an 11 percent increase in capacity accessed by a larger side door. A number of driver assist systems have been added such as Ford SYNC, AppLink, Emergency Assistance, Lane Keeping Alert and Driver Alert. New engines to North America replaced the V8 and V10 engines used in the E-Series. The North American Transit is available with the I5 3.2L Duratorq diesel engine (branded as Power Stroke) along with the V6 3.5L EcoBoost and V6 3.7L Cyclone engines.

Blue Bird/Girardin became the first North American manufacturer to body the Transit cutaway chassis. The Micro Bird T-Series/MB-II T-Series was launched in 2014 at the National Association for Pupil Transportation trade show. The Starcraft Starlite followed in 2015. A number of upfitters also use the Ford Transit van.

In 2019, the Transit saw multiple upgrades for the 2020 model year. Aside from a facelift and updated interior, forward collision warning, post-collision braking, lane-keeping assist and automatic high beams were made standard. Adaptive cruise control, all-wheel drive blind spot information system (BLIS), active park assist, side sensing, front and rear cameras and adjustable speed limiters were made available as options. The Transit's powertrain was also refreshed, with only the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 being carried over; the 3.7L Cyclone V6 and 3.2L Power Stroke diesel I5 were replaced by a new 3.5L V6 and 2.0L EcoBlue diesel I4, respectively; a 10-speed automatic transmission replaces the previous 6-speed unit. A power sliding door was also made optional for van models.^[1]^[2]

In 2019, Ford announced a battery-electric variant of the Transit and presented a concept in April that year. In March 2020, Ford announced that the electric Transit will go on sale in Canada, Europe, and the United States in 2021.^[3]