The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in some markets since 1995), cutaway van chassis, and a pickup truck. The vehicle is also known as the Ford T-Series (T-150, T-250, T-350), a nomenclature shared with Ford's other light commercial vehicles, the Ford F-Series trucks, and the Ford E-Series chassis. , 8 million Transit vans have been sold, making it the third best-selling van of all time and has been produced across four basic platform generations (debuting in 1965, 1986, 2000, and 2013 respectively), with various "facelift" versions of each.
The first product of the merged Ford of Europe, the Transit was originally marketed in Western Europe and Australia. By the end of the twentieth century, it was marketed nearly globally with the exception of North America until 2015 when it replaced the Ford E-Series van. Upon its introduction in North America, the Transit quickly became the best-selling van of any type in the United States, minivan sales included.
That mirrors the success the Transit has achieved in Europe, where it has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle for forty years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic trademark applying to any light commercial van in the Transit's size bracket. Those trucks were based on the slightly modified war models V 3000 S, B 3000 S and V 3000 A as they were already produced before and during the Second World War in the Ford production facilities in the Third Reich and subsequently called "Rhein" (V8-engined) and "Ruhr" (four-cylinder).
At that time neither Ford of Britain nor Ford Werke AG were 100% subsidiaries of Ford Motor Company in Detroit; before the Second World War each company had its own more or less protected market. After the war, several economical boundaries were abolished and local markets did not exist anymore in the same way that they existed before. With this, Ford of Britain and Ford-Werke AG suddenly became more competitive on the whole European Continent than local market subsidiaries of their parent company in Detroit.
Production of light commercial vehicles began in late 1948, when 148 half-ton delivery vehicles were built. This article attempts to make mention of all the common naming systems.
First generation (1965)<span class="anchor" id="1"></span><span class="anchor" id="1965"></span>
Pre-facelift (2000)
The Transit, introduced in July 2000, was the third all-new design, and borrowed styling cues from Ford's "New Edge" designs, like the Focus and Ka. Developed by Ford in the United States, the main innovation is that it is available in either front- or rear-wheel drive. Ford nomenclature makes this the V184 (rear-wheel-drive) or V185 (front-wheel-drive) model. This model features the "Puma"-type Duratorq turbo diesel engine also used in the 2000 Mondeo and Jaguar X-Type, with the petrol versions moving up to the 2.3 L 16-Valve edition of the straight-4 engine.
A demonstration of this model's speed with the smallest panel van body, rear wheel drive, highest output 136PS 2.4 Duratorq turbo-diesel engine and optional 6-speed manual gearbox was shown in series 6 of Top Gear in 2005, where German race driver Sabine Schmitz attempted to drive it around the Nürburgring in under ten minutes, matching Jeremy Clarkson's time in a turbodiesel Jaguar S-Type; after weight reduction and aerodynamic modifications, she was only just unsuccessful, marking her fastest lap at 10m 8s.
This version won the International Van of the Year 2001.
left|thumbnail|Ford Transit pre-facelift
The Durashift EST automatic transmission (optional on all rear-wheel-drive models) features controls mounted on the dashboard, a specially adapted manual mode, tow-haul mode, economy mode and winter mode. This is known as the ASM (automatically shifting manual) system in the Australian market.
2002 saw the introduction of the first High Pressure Common Rail diesel engine in the Transit, with the launch of the HPCR 2.0-litre in the FWD. Production of the van started at the new Ford-Otosan plant in Kocaeli, Turkey which saw the end of all production at the Genk, Belgium plant which had been producing Transits since 1965. This coincided with the introduction of the Transit Connect (also produced in Kocaeli), a smaller panel van based on the C170 (Focus) platform and aimed at replacing the older Escort and Fiesta based models. Despite the name, the Connect has no engineering commonality with the full-size Transit.
2003 saw a new instrument cluster with a digital odometer.
2004 saw the launch of the first RWD HPCR, the 2.4-litre variant that also introduced the 6-speed MT-82 RWD manual gearbox.
The five millionth Transit rolled off the Southampton line on Monday, July 18, 2005, and was donated to an English charity.
Facelift (2006)<span class="anchor" id="2006"></span>
thumb|left|Ford Transit (facelift)
thumb|left|Ford Transit (facelift)
The third-generation Transit received a facelift to the body, introduced in July 2006, including new front and rear lights, a new front end and a new interior featuring the gearstick on the dashboard and Ford's new corporate radio design. Besides the styling changes, the powertrains were revised. The old petrol engine was replaced with one from the Ford Ranger, the front-wheel-drive diesel went from 2.0 to 2.2 litres capacity, and all diesel engines gained high-pressure common rail (TDCi) systems. The powertrains were changed to meet new emissions legislation. Additionally, the facelift introduced CAN bus electronics to the Transit for the first time. The new version (Ford nomenclature V347 for front-wheel drive and V348 for rear-wheel drive) won International Van of the Year for 2007 despite tough competition from several all-new rivals. This Transit arrived in Mexico to replace the Freestar after the 2007 model year. This was the first Transit with a five-cylinder engine available (in the 3.2L 200PS version).
Mid-2006 saw the launch of the "Sport Van", a production van featuring the engine with additional styling parts, "Le Mans" stripes and 18-inch alloy wheels.
Late-2007 saw the launch of the engine for front-wheel-drives (replacing the 130 PS) complete with the VMT6 6-speed manual transaxle to cope with the extra power.
The 6-speed transaxle was introduced on the mid-power FWD in late 2008 when the engine was upped to .
In late 2008, the "coated Diesel Particulate Filter" (cDPF)—designed to meet higher emission standards than the current Euro IV requirement—was introduced as an option on all diesel engines. Production ended in 2013, with the Southampton plant closing down making this generation the last of the British built Transits, but returned in China in two modified forms.
Engines
- 2.2 L Diesel, ; 2006–2014
- 2.2 L Diesel, ; 2006–2008
- 2.2 L Diesel, ; 2008–2014
- 2.2 L Diesel, ; 2006–2007
- 2.2 L Diesel, ; 2007–2014
- 2.4 L Diesel, ; 2006–2014
- 2.4 L Diesel, ; 2006–2014
- 2.4 L Diesel, ; 2006–2014
- 3.2 L Diesel, ; 2007–2014
- 2.3 L Petrol, ; 2006–2014