Ford is creating a smart new business for itself and it isn't in the glamourous new car world either. It's in the relatively unglamorous world of load-lugging commercial vehicles where Ford's Transit has been a major influence in keeping things moving both in Ireland and elsewhere for 35 years.
The Transit family is expanding and there's a baby version that's called Connect. The Connect which will go on Irish sale early next year, goes into the sub one-tonne segment and Eddie Murphy, Ford's chairman and managing director, says the potential of one million plus vehicles should translate into Irish sales of around 2,500 a year. He sees it as "an unbeatable proposition for the Irish marketplace" and "an ideal workhorse for vast numbers of van users." Transit Connect comes with two engine sizes, a 1.8 litre 115bhp petrol unit and a 1.8TDCi Duratorq common rail turbodiesel with 90bhp.
Predictably the vast majority of Irish buyers will opt for diesel option. Even though it will also come in a five-seat passenger version called Tourneo Connect, Ford insist that Connect uses dedicated commercial architecture: it isn't based on car underpinnings.
Transit Connect may be smaller but there's still a lot of emphasis on its ability to swallow big or awkward loads. The version that will come to Ireland initially will be long wheelbase with a high roof. The load length is 1,986mm and the maximum payload is 900kg. In certain configurations, it is capable of taking two full Europallets. Like most commercial vehicles these days, big or small, a car-like driving quality is claimed along with low cost of ownership and high levels of security and safety.
Eddie Murphy sees the Transit Connect's competitors as the Fiat Scudo, Citroen Dispatch and the Mitsubishi L200 among others.
He thinks the Transit association, or even connection, is vitally important. "Transit has been very good to us over the years and last year we sold over 6,000 which is phenomenal. Transit accounts for 14 per cent of all commercial vehicles on Irish roads."
What then about Tourneo Connect? It's scheduled to arrive here in the spring of 2003 with sales projected at a "couple of hundred." It joins two French van-derived passenger-carrying offerings, the Citroën Berlingo Multispace and the Renault Kangoo Kar. Both have had only modest success on the Irish market, although the ISV sector is growing in popularity in Europe with volumes likely to reach one million soon. ISV is incidentally, an acronym for Integrated Style Van and it is geared towards customers who want space and practicality and aren't too fussy about style and appearance, the sort of people who 30 or more years ago used to buy the Renault 4.
Ford's expectations for the Tourneo Connect are modest because of the VRT situation. Even though it has a commercial genesis, it still bears the full impact of VRT.