The days of the Ford Transit Connect are numbered. The blue oval firm has decided to dispense with this model and will not replace the model it sells on the other side of the Atlantic. Ford has decided to cancel the total renovation plan that it had planned for this van, and that it was going to be manufactured in Mexico together with the Bronco Sport and Maverick.
It was more than two years ago that the first spy photos of a mule from the next generation of the Ford Transit Connect, and since then no more has been seen, not even the conveniently camouflaged production prototype. The signature of the blue oval assigned to this model the development code «V758», asking their regular suppliers for quotes on certain components.
But those plans to develop a small Ford commercial model for the United States that was going to be manufactured in the Mexican facilities along with the Bronco Sport and Maverick, have fallen through. The manufacturer of the blue oval has decided to destroy the new generation of the Ford Transit Connectwhich was scheduled to land in 2024 and with sales estimates of 40,000 units per year. A decision that has now been made known but that had been made since the beginning of the year, according to American sources.
Low sales, key in the goodbye of the Ford Transit Connect
Initially, the main key that has motivated this decision is based on the more than poor commercial performance that this van has accumulated in recent years in the North American market. In 2020, its sales fell by 17 percent, and so far this year the result has not been better. In the first seven months of the year, until last July, it accumulates only 15,919 units until last Julywhich represents a significant fall of 15 percent, with a small increase of 6.3% in the month of February.
This is the main reason for discarding a new generation. Still, the Transit Connect could survive if the manufacturer exports the new generation of the Tourneo Connect developed together with Volkswagen, since the current model sold in the United States leaves the production lines in Spain for the United States. A solution that has also been completely ruled out by Ford sources who prefer to remain completely anonymous, since the brand’s policy is not to talk about future strategies of the coming models, and much less about internal decisions.
So the Ford Transit Connect will leave the US market at the end of next year 2023, although the new model that has already begun its production and marketing in Europe is not in danger. Across the Atlantic, the commercial division will focus only on the different options offered by the new generation of the Ford Transitwith the new electric variant of the e-Transit and a more playful option that will arrive in 2023, with the off-road aptitude of the Transit Trail.
Font: autonews