Ford Transit 2012 revealed

Ford has presented the production version of its next generation Transit in England and will introduce it in Europe towards the end of this year, but the grand van won’t go on sale in Australia until September 2013 at the earliest.

There is every chance the new Transit, called the Transit Custom, will be worth the wait judging from the styling and features of this vehicle, which is fresh from the ground up. It’s now clear that when Ford showed the Torneo Custom Concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March that it was giving us a very clear indication of what the new Transit would look like.

The production vehicle is very close to that concept, including the use of the trapezoidal air dam and sleek wrap-around headlights that make up Ford’s Kinetic design language and also feature on cars like the Fiesta and Focus. It’s a lot more exciting to look at than the current plain but practical Transit.

Ford Europe chief designer, Paul Campbell, says: “It’s still a Transit, so the superbly practical loadspace is a given, but with its sportier stance and bold rising shoulder line, the Transit Custom makes a powerful new impact.” The new van will be offered in two lengths, a 4.970mm short wheelbase and a 5340mm long wheelbase. Ford says the long wheelbase version has a class leading load capacity of 6.0 cubic metres, with a bulkhead in place.

It has also revealed there will be a clever bulkhead latch to allow longer items such as pipes to be carried. The company claims even the short wheelbase model is capable of carrying three Euro pallets. There are some interesting features such as an integrated roof rack, which can be folded down and out of the way when not being used. The new Transit will continue with the recently introduced 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel, which will be available with outputs of 75kW, 93kW and 116kW.