1:35 am, September 21, 2011
FORD decided against unveiling its new Transit concept at Frankfurt to prevent it stealing the limelight.
Car Dealer can reveal the Blue Oval was concerned the van would steal the show from the new Focus ST hatch and estate and Fiesta ST concept – three cars Ford was keen to give full billing on its stand.
‘We fully intended to show-off the new Transit concept at Frankfurt, but it was thought better not to for two reasons,’ Ford’s executive design director Martin Smith told us.
‘We wanted to show-off the ST models, and with such new product on the Ford stand threatening to push the Transit to the sidelines, the decision was taken to delay the unveil.’
Transit-lovers can be assured the new model will be just as game changing too. The van that has dominated the LCV market for nearly 46 years and has sold more than two million units in the UK since its launch in 1965, is set to continue that grip on the UK van market with a bold new look.
‘I think you’ll be surprised with it,’ said Smith. ‘You’ll also be thinking from the design “how is that possible from an LCV?”‘
Despite the Transit’s heritage, the van will never be backward-looking. ‘We would never give the Transit a retro look. We just don’t believe in that type of thing,’ Smith added.
