Suppose you have to deliver two dozen pizzas or you want to cover a 10-person party. It's a job more than you can in most cars, but a large truck would be overkill. Starting next year, Ford Motor Co will have a new vehicle targeted at companies who have simila
issues - the Turkish construction professional van Transit Connect. Ohio businesses can get a look at the vehicle starting Saturday at 2008 Cleveland Auto Show at the International Exhibition Centre.
All trucks that Ford sells in North America now come from its plant in Avon Lake. And, unlike the truck market, which has fallen along with the downturn in the housing market, van sales have held in recent months.
Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Ford product development, said the little van is aimed at small retail and service businesses, not the biggest buyers of delivery of cargo usually choose the E-Series.
"Consumers make most of their purchases from the Internet and smaller, specialty businesses," Kuzak said in a news release, adding that these small companies often have to make low volume of deliveries.
«Transit Connect is ideally suited to meet those delivery needs because of the flexible package, compact size and fuel consumption of engines."
The biggest difference between the Transit Connect and the E-Series is the size. The new truck is about 5 feet shorter than some of the trucks Avon Lake.
Another important difference is power.
E-Series van buyers are four engine options - two different sizes of motor gasoline V-8, a gas-powered V-10 or diesel V-8. The smaller powerplant is a 4.6-liter V-8.
The only engine choice for the Transit Connect will be 2-liter four-cylinder engine, the same size engine is in Focus.
On the plus side, this means that the new van will take more than 20 miles per gallon (Ford, no need to submit the estimated fuel economy for trucks series E, because it is large enough to be classified as commercial vehicles). On the other hand, do not expect to attract much with it.
Don Aull, a consultant based in New York Commercial Vehicle Consultants Inc, said newer products, like the European-built Sprinter Dodge Ford have not moved far from its perch as the top seller of commercial vehicles and trucks.
Thanks to the truck series E and F-Series trucks, Ford is the commercial vehicle market leader in this country for 40 years. The Ford says the E-Series has the best-selling full-size van in the country for almost 30 years.
The Ford family has sold the truck crossing in Europe since 1965. The smaller Transit Connect made its debut in 2002.
The big question for Ford is, will there be a market for new small van here.
Aull said that in larger cities like New York, the commercial fleet managers are trying to shrink.
"I can definitely see a need in urban areas for a small vehicle for rapid response," he said.
Aull said that the cost of operating fleets tradition is changing. The old business model of loading up a van with as much as possible things and having this car for long journeys to make multiple traditions is fading.
Instead, shippers are trying to get exact amounts of goods to customers in short, regular intervals.
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