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June Transit Sales

12K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  VanMan 
#1 ·
"With vehicles made in the Kansas City-area generally posting disappointing sales in June, the highlight of the month was Ford officially registering its first 490 Transit van sales."
- Kansas City Business Journal
 
#9 ·
If I recall, econoline has been selling 5,000-10,000 per month for the last 10 years... I'd imagine the majority of those will follow over to the Transit (minus people who go to Chevy for the old style van, minus people still buying the E450 cutaways, then add in stolen sprinter sales)

There are going to be a LOT of these things. I'm pretty impressed they've sold 500! Considering most people still haven't laid eyes on a single van, let alone one customized to their specs, that's pretty good. Wait til every Ford dealership has 5-10 of them on the lot at any time, all different heights and motors to choose from, incentives, and the ability to shuffle vans from dealership to dealership if they don't have what you want and someone another dealer in the same network does.

My friend manages a fleet here (rangers and transit connects) and they have a full size transit on order, and more coming when the need arises.
 
#16 ·
Was excited when I came across this forum several months ago, and posted several times a week initially. Am still disappointed in that I have waited over two years since learning of Ford Transit coming to USA. I would have bought one in June 2012 if available, would have bought one in 2013 if available, would have bought one in June 2014 if available. Guess what.....have currently lost enthusiasm for this. Took my $50,000 had saved up and used it for down payment on a lake home. Maybe June 2015 my tall roof Transit will be available for purchase....thank you Ford.
 
#20 · (Edited)
E series moved 11,790 in June and 66,905 YTD, can we expect that kind of clip for the Transit as well? I mean going of the sprinters figure and the NV (1226 in June, 7457 2014 YTD) It just seems these new vans don't move as well.

Granted Mercedes and Nissan are not the typical van brands so this may be a bit apples and oranges...
 
#21 ·
These vans technically don't even exist yet. They are not part of the automotive landscape... and they've already sold 500ish in June! I'd say folks are frothing for these vans. When I tell people I'm replacing my Sprinter with a Transit VAN, they say things like "My buddy works for Bell, he drives one of those Transits" and "so it's a lot smaller than your Sprinter?" Then I explain it's a van, not the Connect... it's Sprinter size... then they change the subject because people are dumb and don't understand simple concepts. For a van that doesn't exist, it's selling well. Ford needs to get the glitches out of the assembly line and ordering process and get these things to dealerships, and all the orders out the door, then watch them fly off the lot. I'm a little weary of ordering my lwd eb 250 diesel cargo, simply because I don't want a bunch of headscratching on the assembly line. I want them on their A-game when they put mine together.

Take the Promaster as an example. Virtually no press on that POS, and nothing but glorified a mini-van drivetrain available, shrugging of shoulders from salesmen when I ask about a diesel demo for a test drive, and they are selling a bunch of them (in Ontario anyway). People are looking for an alternative to Sprinter. Transit is the answer.
 
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#24 ·
According to the guy giving the presentation in Dearborn Wednesday throughout Europe people refer to all vans as "Transits". He said it is just used generically like we use Kleenex. If that's true, no way would they give up that name and of course they would call the little city van a Mini Transit or instead went with Transit Connect.
Hard to picture, but if he was being truthful people climbing into a brand new fully loaded MB Sprinter in Stuttgart would likely be saying "Whoa, sweet Transit".
 
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#27 ·
I have heard from many guys from the UK, refer to Vans as "Transits" before the Ford guys told us that at the tour. (over 7 million built)
Alot of funny "caravan" shows from Top gear (in UK) (travel trailers)

I never bought a Sprinter, but got very close, kept waiting for the Ford Transit in US.

If I did, would have been a "Freightliner" version
I wanted to park at the truck stops with the big rigs, and dine in that special area for truckers (fresher coffee/faster food srvice) use the showers. Seems like the east way to van/camp.
 
#29 ·
Still couldn't use their fuel nozzle in my skinny little Sprinter filler neck, blew my cover having to pull up to the car diesel pumps. Started carrying a nice sized funnel for emergencies like T/A stations that had no small diameter diesel bays until I realized that the little neck couldn't handle the minimum volume a small squeeze would deliver.
 
#32 ·
When the Sprinter was totaled I returned to MI from the FL Keys in a rental Ford Escape. It was really weird just flicking open the fuel filler door and inserting the nozzle.
It was also my first experience w/ Sync which I used a lot having to be on the phone almost the entire drive back to take care of crash related business and scheduling changes.
Never splashed the feet while pumping diesel (scrapped the funnel idea when Sprinter-Source guys pre-warned me), but that would have been easier to neutralize than shoes would have been.
Another difference with diesel for those with no experience.......slight spills and splashes are nothing like the rapidly evaporating gasoline ones, diesel is oily, and often the pump handle as well as pavement near the pump is oily and dirty.
Yesterday cruising again at an impatient 82 mph I was reminded of my fuel guzzling trip style.
I got thinking again about real world fuel burn differences between engines in a tall roof, and came to the conclusion that it's a real possibility that the diesel would get 19 mpg at 82 while either gasoline model might get as low as 11.
If that turns out to be the case and fuel stays priced as it is it might be as short as a three year pay-off. Sure, more expensive maintenance, but longer oil intervals as well as cruising range. Gotta get those real world numbers, hope rentals start showing up soon. Only need a few hours at speed in order to determine.
 
#33 ·
+1 on the rentals, thats my plan. No change to what I want, but a couple of trips will give me some midroof LWB cargo 3.7L hours under my belt (and mileage numbers) Don't tell the rental company but I will remove the console too. (I will put it back)

I have got enough diesel and (Jet-A) on my hands, does not wash off, soaks into your skin very fast and you smell like diesel for days no matter how many times you wash your hands.
Moisturizing cream will get rid of about 80%, but you stink

I watched my car friend when I was young siphon gas from a hose and get mouth fulls of gasoline
A few cigarettes later (I don't smoke) he was fine?

"To be old and wise, you must be first young and dumb"
 
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