Ford PR in High Gear as Transit Connect Sells 2,000 Units in First Month
Ford has a gushing press release out on the US’ first month of Transit Connect sales; and a booming small business economic sector! You know things are a bit dicey when a survey saying “9 percent of small business owners plan to hire additional staff within the next three months” gets its own big bold bullet point. That nine percent planning to hire means that the other 91% plan to either hold pat or let employees go. Ouch, those are bad numbers.
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How good/bad is crash protection for rear-seat passengers?
BuzzDog: "One strange thing about the VIN is that the second digit is an “M,” which indicates Mercury. I wonder if perhaps that’s because Ford has typically imported vehicles through the Mercury division, at least European ones. At this time in the Transit Connect’s launch, it seems slightly pricey for what you get, at least objectively. But that seems to be Ford’s value proposition for new products; witness the new Taurus. It would be nice to see it work, because it will prove that the U.S. can build desirable vehicles; if not, expect to see some cash on the hoods/bonnets by spring." That is interesting. Another thing I thought of is whether they are going to incorporate those child seat anchors in the back. I looked at the website this morning and didn't see anything about that in the information on the available rear seat. A few gadgets like that and this thing would be an alternative to a traditional minivan for many people.
I saw my first one of these today on the road, and was actually struck by how small it was. Not that it's a tiny little car, or even small like an xB, but small for a commercial vehicle. I think that's what's really going to make the difference.
2000? Wow, at that rate, assuming small businesses don't get further decimated (a big "if"), Ford may sell a whole 20,000 of these for the year.