Thursday 25th July 1985
The two millionth Ford Transit was produced.It was originally introduced in 1965, and has been in continuous production in four basic generations (debuting in 1965, 1986, 2000, and 2013 respectively), with various “facelift” versions of each.. The van was produced initially at Ford’s Langley facility in Berkshire (a former WW2 aircraft factory which produced the Hawker Hurricane fighter), but as demand outstripped the capability of the plant, production was moved to Southampton, where it has remained ever since. Transits have also been produced in Ford’s Genk factory in Belgium. The Mk.1 Transit was introduced to replace the Ford Thames, a small van noted for its narrow track and was in direct competition with similar looking vehicles from Rootes’s Commer range. The Thames failed to win over company users in significant enough numbers, so Ford went back to the drawing board. Henry Ford II’s revolutionary step was to combine the engineering effort of Ford of Britain, and Ford of Germany together to create a prototype for the Ford of Europe of today – previously the two subsidiaries had been in direct competition with each other. The Transit was a huge departure from the European commercial vehicles of the day – its broad track and American-ized styling gave it a huge advantage in carrying capacity over comparable vehicles of the day and revolutionised light goods transport. Most of the Transit’s mechanical components were adapted from Ford’s car range of the time. Another key to the Transit’s success was the sheer number of different body styles – panel vans in long and short wheelbase forms, pick-up truck, minibuses, crew-cabs to name but a few. The engines used were the Essex V4 for the petrol engined version in 1.7 L and 2.0 L capacities, while a 41 bhp (31 kW) diesel unit sourced from Perkins was also offered. The Perkins diesel engine was too long to fit under the Transit’s stubby nose section, which had to be restyled for the diesel version. Over eight million Transit have been sold, making it the third best-selling van of all time and have been produced across four basic platform generations (debuting in 1965, 1986, 2000, and 2013 respectively), with various “facelift” versions of each. As of 2016, the Transit is the best-selling van in the United States, minivan sales included. The Transit drives Ford’s 57 percent share of the full-size van market in the US. Due to the prevalence of the Ford Transit as a cargo van and delivery vehicle in the United Kingdom, the term “Transit” is used in the United Kingdom synonymously as a generic trademark for any cargo van or even delivery vehicle, regardless of manufacturer.
