OREANDA-NEWS.  Ford’s new Transit and Transit Custom commercial vehicles powered by the all-new, state-of-the-art 2.0-litre Ford EcoBlue diesel engine make their global debut at The Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, U.K., and will offer improved cost of ownership and performance for customers from mid-2016.

New from the ground up, the next-generation Ford EcoBlue engine enhances fuel efficiency by up to 13 per cent compared with the outgoing 2.2-litre TDCi engine, with CO2 emissions from 157 g/km, and delivers significant improvements in low-rpm torque for enhanced driveability. The new engine – available to order now – also will deliver up to 2-year/60,000 km (37,000 mile) variable service intervals for Transit and Transit Custom operators.

“The challenge was to take our best-selling Transit and make it cheaper to operate, improve performance, cleaner in terms of emissions, quieter in the cabin, safer and even more durable,” said Pete Reyes, Ford of Europe’s head of commercial vehicles. “That’s exactly what we did with the new Transit and Transit Custom with the all-new Ford EcoBlue engine.”

In addition to the all-new engine line-up, Transit and Transit Custom vehicles also are available to order now with advanced driver assistance technologies including Side Wind Stabilisation and Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection. From late 2016, customers also will be able to specify a six speed automatic transmission in place of a manual gearbox, and a new rear air suspension option on Transit Custom Kombi models.

The two-tonne Transit and one-tonne Transit Custom vehicles are core models within Ford’s renewed Transit range, which also includes the smaller all-new Transit Connect and Transit Courier vans. The success of this expanded line-up helped Ford become Europe’s No.1 selling commercial vehicle brand in 2015 – for the first time in 19 years – with total sales of 280,000, a year-over-year increase of 23 per cent.

Growth has continued in the first quarter of 2016, with combined Transit and Transit Custom sales in Europe of 50,100 vehicles, a rise of 15 per cent over the previous year.

The updated Transit and Transit Custom models offer commercial vehicle operators the same comprehensive line-up of vehicle variants including multiple roof height and wheelbase options, a wide choice of gross vehicle weights, and bodystyles with van, kombi and double-cab-in-van variants. Transit customers can further select from front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and Intelligent All Wheel Drive derivatives, along with Chassis Cab and Minibus bodystyles.