Ford’s highly successful Transit commercial van celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Since the first vehicle left the production line in Langley, England, on 9 August, 1965, almost 8m Transit and Transit Custom models have been built. The range – the first product to be shared in almost identical specifications between the then still separated Ford of Britain and Ford Europe operations – has grown from a single model to an entire family.
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Lined up end to end, Ford reckons, 50 years of Transits would circle the globe and, on average a new Transit has been bought every 180 seconds during its lifetime. Its is now a true global model now the latest generation is also on sale in North America, replacing the long running, locally designed E-series there.
The latest model line features four completely new models – Transit, Transit Custom, Transit Connect and Transit Courier – which are boosting demand for Ford commercial vehicles, with UK sales alone a record in March – up 43% year on year to 16,497 units.
Ford of Britain chairman and managing director, Mark Ovenden, said: “The Transit has touched the lives of most of us. From house moves to moving people, the van is an essential tool to get the job done. It has become a mobile office or workshop for some – and loved by us all.”
Launched in the same year that the first person walked in space, the Transit made an immediate impact, providing practical support to the UK economy. The Transit evolved with a vast range of bodystyles and variants from parcel van, through tipper trucks and campers, to outrageous one-offs, including the Cosworth V8-powered ‘Supervans’.
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By GlobalDataProduction accelerated, and after passing the first million milestone in 1976, it rapidly passed the next ones in 1985, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2013. Add demand for the smaller Transit Connect – with more than 1m sold – and the compact all-new Transit Courier, total production is scheduled to top 9m during this year.
First and second generation models were assembled locally in Ford factories in countries like Australia and New Zealand (some with locally made engines) and, more recently, production has also expanded beyond Europe, including factories in Nanchang, China. In 2014 the Transit was built and sold in North America for the first time with a new two-tonne model being assembled in Kansas City. Currently, the Transit is sold in 118 markets across six continents.
