Light commercial vehicles manufactured in Europe have long been cooperative ventures between brands to save on development and manufacturing costs, writes Brian Byrne. For instance, the now-Stellantis vans from Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Fiat are all badge changes, and include Toyota LCVs sold in Europe too. Nissan and Renault vans are versions of each other, and Stellantis is also providing electric van platforms to Iveco for sale in the European market. Mercedes-Benz share a small van with minimal changes between them. The latest Volkswagen Transporter and Ford's Transit Custom are interesting medium van collaborations.
Their nameplates have similar pedigrees. The Transporter evolved from 1967, when it was the T2, derived from the underpinnings of the T1 Volkswagen that became known as the Beetle. The Transit Custom only goes back to 2012, when the large and medium Transit vans were divided into separate categories. But the Transit name itself goes back to 1965.
Volkswagen and Ford announced a global strategic alliance for commercial vehicles in January 2019. The first result was the most recent pickups, the Ranger from Ford and the current Amarok, a rebadged and lightly changed Ranger.
The Transit Custom that went into production in 2023 arrived with significant improvements over its predecessor. A new suspension system allowed a lower floor height and improved handling. Changes to the front structure allowed for more room in the cab and reduced the front overhang.
While constrained by the need to have the most efficient load space, the style of vans is still important as the 'face' of many large fleet operators. The latest Transit Custom and VW Transporter — they are twins apart from the badging and grille area — are collectively a good looker. The cargo end has a floor length of over 3 metres (3.450 with the optional load-through bulkhead), and the total load capacity is 6.8 cu m. A sliding side door is standard, and power side doors are an option. The back door is a liftback, but my review van had double rear doors.
The extra footwell room in the cabin compared to the previous vehicle is very noticeable. Trim materials are high quality, and the dashboard has a clean design, though there's an apparent scarcity of storage room for bits and pieces, beyond an open bin behind the driver's instruments.
A large centre screen has all the things that these things have, including climate management in a line of permanent virtual buttons along the bottom. These included seat heating controls for both the driver and the double passenger seats, indicating the grade of the review van (the Transporter was the same). The shared double seat looked quite comfortable for two adults. The driver's instrumentation had large, bright, and good graphical elements.
As I've said, the two vans were identical apart from badging nd some front cosmetics. The available engines are Fords, a 2.0 EcoBlue diesel, marketed as a TDI in the Transporter, and a 2.5 petrol plug-in hybrid, the power in my Ford review vehicle. The rated electric-only range is 48-55km, which is possible while using it only in a city environment, but would be much diminished on the highway. That said, the drive, attached to an 8-speed automatic gearbox, was a revelatory, very smooth and quiet experience, and for urban delivery work it is something I'd be very happy to operate. By some coincidence, the diesel engine in the Transporter was also the 8-speed automatic, and while the travelling sound was different to the PHEV, it was well muted and the transmission operated equally well as with the petrol unit. My experience with both confirmed something I've always felt: vans should always be bought with automatic powertrains, simply because the drivers are working in those vehicles all day, every working day.
My bottom line thought: if I were a dyed-in-the-wool Volkswagen nerd, I'd not be disappointed taking the latest Transporter as my workplace. Equally, if I were a true-blue-oval Transit aficionado, I'd be very happy with my Custom. Whatever your choice, each is a good step forward from its predecessors.
PRICE: From €340,409, including VAT (Transit Custom), review vehicle €44,529. Transporter: From €39,265, review vehicle €47,120. WHAT I LIKED: Loved the Transporter's colour.