It’s been quite some time since we began discussing the automobile industry: how far down it’s gone, the many plights and possible implosion of the American automobile industry – mostly just bad news and blank reassurances from the government that we can make it better. But now, out of all of this, comes something that might make people just turn their heads: it’s called The Ford Story, and it’s quite an interesting website. You can find it at www.thefordstory.com, and it’s quite a piece of work. Like its name suggests, it’s the story of Ford’s journey through this pit of despair that it has wiggled its way into, and its plans on how to get out of it in one piece.
The first part, of a many-part series, focuses on something called “Transit Connect,” a spacious new alternative for cargo vans and pickup trucks. It was designed with business owners in mind: people who need cargo space, but don’t need a massive vehicle to tow all their chairs and filing cabinets. Weighing in at just 1,600 lbs and offering a whopping 135 cubic feet of storage space, the Transit Connect is sitting pretty in terms of trunk space. However, it’s not just that; it gets an estimated 22 miles per gallon in town, and 25 on the highway. That should make a lot of of jaws drop out there.
The Transit Connect should be familiar to anyone who has traveled to Eurpoe in the past six years; it’s launch in 2003 was hailed by Europeans as the second coming of the pickup truck, but Ford hasn’t been able to find a market for it here in the United States. With stiff competition from Dodge and Chevy (the Sprinter and the Express Van, respectively), Ford has had a tough time edging out the competition. But with a new design and a sleek new exterior, plus a much more fuel-efficient engine, the Transit Connect may just be the answer to the American towing and hauling nightmare.
As chief engineer Rob Stevens states, the Transit Connect will be a “useful small business tool. It drives like a car, works like a van and is engineered to be as tough as a truck.” Now that’s good news.