The U.S. auto market may be fast-moving and competitive, but one subset, commercial vans, is neither. Looking much the same as it did during the Nixon administration, it has seen few innovations and fewer new entries. The only real change is that the big Dodge van--dressed in the same duds since the early '70s--finally expired a few years ago, when the Mercedes-Chrysler tie-up brought us the Sprinter van to replace it. Half-hearted attempts to make work vehicles out of passenger haulers, such as panel-truck versions of the Dodge Caravan and the Chevy HHR, have met with little success.
All of which might help explain why the arrival of the Ford Transit Connect is such a strangely compelling event, even for those of us who don't own a gourmet catering service, a floral design shop, a hardware store, or a mobile dog grooming business--to name but a few examples of the types of enterprises Ford hopes to entice with this vehicle.
We spent the better part of a day bopping around Manhattan in a Transit Connect, and everywhere we stopped our mini-fleet of five mini-vans elicited comments and questions from passersby.... Read full article