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Mark Ovenden, Ford’s chairman and MD in the UK, holding forth over dinner

I WENT over to Barcelona this week for the launch of the new 2 tonne Ford Transit that sits at the heavy end of proceedings in Ford’s commercial vehicle line up.

Over dinner with Mark Ovenden, Ford’s chairman and managing director in Britain, Mark recounted how the Transit was born.

“One of the insights that led to the Transit in 1965 was the prevalence of the restrictive practice in delivery. The Transit van was the answer to get round the restrictive practice of lorry delivery with its efficient packaging.

“Since then we’ve sold 7 million Transits and, thanks to the Transit’s durability, over 700,000 are still on the road.”

 

Ford One-Stop conversion business set to boom

If you’ve not heard of Ford’s One-Stop conversion business you won’t be alone.

“It’s one of our best kept secrets,” confirmed Ford’s Transit product manager David Petts. “It was started in the early 2000s but one of our significant pushes this year will be to major on conversions and particularly One-Stop.”

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With the launch of the new Transit range, Ford will push its One-Stop conversions

According to David, Transit Chassis Cabs have been split 50/50 between those companies wanting to commission their own bespoke conversions and One-Stop conversions, supplied by conversion specialists Ingimex and VFS.

Prices for the base Transit Chassis start at £20,095 + VAT, while the Dropside costs £22,245 + VAT through Transit One-Stop. Tipper prices start at £27,545 – a market which Ford has a 70% share, says David. (Click here for more on the Chassis Cab conversions)

 

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