Ford has revealed some of the testing that has gone into making its new 2t Transit van.
Testers pack in some of the world’s most inhospitable conditions and over the course of six months they replicate the punishment the van will take over 10 years.
Ford says the prototypes of its Transit van racked up more than 11million kilometres in testing – that’s equal to travelling around the world 275 times.
By working the van hard in four continents, Ford says they get to work in temperatures that range from +40 deg C to -40 deg C.
Ford Transit: designed to be punished
Among those trips are tests for driving through corrosive mud-and salt- baths and then they have drivers drive the Ford Transit van at high speed for two months. There’s also another test which sees the Transit having to drive in a continuous figure of eight for a month.
The result is, says Ford, a van that is designed to take 10 years of the stiffest punishment possible.
The Blue Oval’s chief programme engineer for the Transit is David Gregory and he said: “Many customers wouldn’t believe what the Transit has been through to inflict the worst treatment possible that a van can endure.”
And before it was launched the all-new Ford Transit Custom racked up more than 300,000 miles of real world use with some of the firm’s highest mileage customers.
Ford Transit
The result is a van designed to last and which has seen improvements to more than 100 components as a direct result of Ford’s tough testing regime.
That’s why the Transit is Ford’s flagship vehicle and it has been redesigned to meet the growing expectations of the van-buying market in the UK. It’s on sale now and sits alongside the other impressive Transit in the line-up: the Transit Custom, Transit Connect and the Transit Courier.
Ford slashes the prices of its replacement parts
Anyone with a Ford Transit or Transit Connect that’s older than four years may be interested to know that Ford has slashed the costs for selected parts on these models – some prices have been cut by 58%.
Ford says it wants to get more older vans into its workshops and the reduced parts include clutches, filters, brakes and brake linings, flywheels and chassis running gear.
For instance, a replacement clutch slave cylinder for a Ford Transit bought between 2000 and 2006 has been reduced by 58% to knock £210 off the repair bill.
Jon Wellsman, of Ford’s customer services division, said: “These price cuts will bring savings that customers will notice and small businesses need to watch every penny.”