DESIGNING THE TRANSIT
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Given the number of permutations the Transit will have, and the fact that it needs to be scaled up to a 2-tonne payload van, it is not surprising that Campbell says designing the new Transit involved at least double the amount of work as designing a car.
Conversations with numerous departments from aerodynamics, safety, manufacturing, and powertrain, through to surface develop ment, engineering, packaging and design would ordinarily lead to some compromise between departments. Yet as CM is ushered into a room with one of the first full-size models and shown several early design sketches, it is clear the Transit Custom hasn’t deviated too far from those early stages.
“As a designer, when a vehicle reaches production, you usually see a load of battles lost. This has been a gratifying experience as everyone got it,” says Campbell.
“We had one group saying something in their own [technical] language, and another group saying it in another, but we eventually realised that we were all saying the same thing, only in different ways. As a result, the first prototype was very close to the production version.”