Added value will tip balance for Transit
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• by Toby Clark For Ford, 23 March will be an important date: the new Transit will go on sale, backed up by a new TV advertising campaign.
Ford is determined to claw back a chunk of the market share it has lost in the past few years to able competitors such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Renault. But the full impact of the new range will not be apparent until the autumn, when the first front-wheel-drive models—and the first bread-andbutter short-wheelbase models—are rolled out of the Southampton factory.
Then the new model range will have the breadth and depth to tackle all areas of the panel van market.
The Transit is clearly going to be around for a long time:
despite ever-more-sophisticated design techniques, model cycles still seem to be at least 10 years in the panel van market. But evolution is essential as new competitors turn up, and Ford has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Most significantly, the DuraTorq engines will be updated with high-pressure common-rail fuel injection within a couple of years. Ford engineers have had reservations about the "first generation" of common-rail designs. They are confident a conventional design can meet current demands— and 'second-generation" common-rail will deriver worthwhile improvements.
Another important advance is in automated gearboxes. Chief programme engineer Dave Grandinett is convinced that an electronically controlled, fully automatic five
speed box can deliver worthwhile improvements in driveability and durability Ford is looking at a Mannesmann/Sachs system, which could be in production within a couple of years.
However, Ford has yet to announce a couple of vital elements: first, the price is not known; second, the warranty Still remains at just one year while competitors are offering two and even three years.
If the company wants to make the Transit a real force again, it will have to look at these "added value' items that can make all the difference to an operator.