The Ford Transit: America's Best-Selling Commercial Van In November 2014

by Timothy Cain

Published: December 17th, 2014

the ford transit america s best selling commercial van in november 2014

In November 2014, for the first time in its six-month North American existence, the full-size Ford Transit was America’s best-selling commercial van.

A number of special circumstances made the Transit’s sudden rise to the top of the leaderboard possible, besides an increase in the number of available Transits and, yes, increased demand for the Transit itself.

First, sales of its predecessor, the traditional best-selling Ford E-Series, declined 59% from November 2013 to just 4151 units in November 2014. The E-Series’ decline was an anticipated one, but it had been averaging 7748 monthly sales over the Transit’s first five months.

Second, the Chevrolet Express slid 23% to just 4478 units. Had Express volume remained level – it’s up 3% year-to-date – at 5779 units, it would have clearly been the top seller for the fourth consecutive month. Sales of the Express’s twin, the GMC Savana, fell 53% to just 716 units.

Third, the attention typically generated by the Transit’s top-selling rivals was more divided than usual. Ram had its best ProMaster month in that van’s 14-month tenure with 3290 sales, 76% better than its previous best month. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter volume was up 26%.

Finally, the smaller quartet of vans, which for the first time included the Nissan NV200-based Chevrolet City Express, was up 36% to 5050 units, thereby grabbing 19.3% of the overall category, up from 14.9% a year ago.

Yet while the stars aligned for the Transit’s best-selling performance, we must expect that any Ford commercial van will become a dominant commercial van. Still, does the Transit have what it takes to pick up where the E-Series left off? The E-Series has been a massive seller for Ford in the United States, and even in this surprisingly fruitful month for the Transit, total full-size Ford commercial van sales slid 11%. Transit Connect included, Ford van sales were down 10%. The Transit has a long way to go if it’s to ever sell like the E-Series. The old van averaged 138,000 annual sales in the decade leading up to 2014.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.

#CommercialVans #Ford #FordTransit #November2014 #U.S.AutoSales

Timothy Cain

More by Timothy Cain

Comments

Join the conversation

7 of 91 comments

Tjh8402 on Dec 18, 2014

I wonder how much the lack of a diesel has hurt their sales vs GM, especially in the heavier duty applications? My Fire Dept switched from Ford to Chevy Chassis for our ambulances in least in part for that reason, as have several ambulance companies in this area.

Like Reply
- See 2 previous
- Scoutdude on Dec 18, 2014
  
  Yeah the lack of a diesel in the cutaway models has probably curtailed the sales of the Econoline for those applications. On the other hand many fleet operators are going to gas from diesel as they have found that they have lower overall operating costs. Around here the UPS fleet is almost all gas powered now. You know that UPS wouldn't have switched to gas power if it didn't save them money overall. The amount of fuel they buy is huge. Of course the Transit will have diesel power but we'll have to wait and see how suitable it is for real heavy duty use. I'm thinking it is going to be real slow something you don't really want in an ambulance.
  
  Like
- Tjh8402 on Dec 20, 2014
  
  @Scoutdude: All the van chassis are slow. The use several generations old engines. A base model F150 V6 has more horsepower than a 6.8 Triton V10 in an E450 (less torque obviously) and an Ecoboost V6 will match it in torque with 65 more horsepower. The 6.6L Duramax that is our current go to oil burner only has 260 hp and 525 ft-lb of torque, which is dramatically below what current pickup truck diesels produce. Our department actually tried switching to gas powered ambulances. We bought both a 6.8 V10 E450 and a Chevy Express with I think the 6.0L. I thought the diesel Express 4500 is slow, but both these gas powered ones give a whole new meaning to underpowered, especially the E450. They've been less reliable than the diesels and the fuel economy went from bad (about 10-12 mpg diesel) to miserable (6-7 mpg gas). This isn't just a cost issue but on a busy day, having to stop for fuel is a major inconvenience. That all being said, I don't normally find myself needing more power. When you've got a top heavy 16,000 lb vehicle with a pressurized oxygen tank right behind you and an (oftentimes unrestrained) paramedic partner and ill patient trusting you to get them safely to the hospital, you rarely find yourself wanting to go faster. You really want brakes more than horsepower. That being said, one of the lessons I had to learn was the medics wanted a smooth ride that didn't throw them off their feet and hurt themselves (we had two paramedics on light duty for a combined six months this year due to injuries suffered in the back of an ambulance when their driver slammed on the brakes) more than they wanted to have a couple minute faster transport time.
  
  Like
- RobertRyan on Dec 20, 2014
  
  @tjh8042 The Ecoboost is built for light duty, not heavy cycle applications. The others are modified for heavy cycle use, as the Duaramax is actually a light duty engine, contrary to what you think. So fair bit of downgrading. I know the E450 is slow, but it is good to see confirmation of the fact
  
  Like
Slow_Joe_Crow on Dec 19, 2014

I wish Ford would add some of my favorite variations to the US transit. While the crew cab chassis is unlikely, the crew van (already available on a Sprinter)and 4WD would both be very useful for both commercial and recreational use. There are a lot of jobs that need a box of stuff and 4 people and Sportsmobile sold a lot of 4WD converted E series campers. Personally I want something that can take 6 people and 6 mountain bikes to a trailhead and provide standing space to change out of your bike gear and cook lunch. A mid roof van with 2 rows of seats, some interior racks, a curtain, a kitchen cabinet and maybe a solar shower and camping toilet would do everything I need, plus doubling as a utility vehicle during the week. I've seen this setup in Sprinters but their reliability record scares me.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Bball40dtw on Dec 19, 2014
  
  There's gotta be a way to order the Euro parts that will make it AWD. I have no idea what it would take or how much it would cost, but Eurpe does get an AWD version. I would bet that it would cost so much that it wouldn't be worth it.
  
  Like
- Bumpy ii on Dec 19, 2014
  
  @bball40dtw Tricky thing is whether or not the unibody on the US models supports the AWD hardware. If it does, then it's just a matter of spending ridiculous amounts of money on the parts and the computers to run them.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Jeff JMII--If I did not get my Maverick my next choice was a Santa Cruz. They are different but then they are both compact pickups the only real compact pickups on the market. I am glad to hear that the Santa Cruz will have knobs and buttons on it for 2025 it would be good if they offered a hybrid as well. When I looked at both trucks it was less about brand loyalty and more about price, size, and features. I have owned 2 gm made trucks in the past and liked both but gm does not make a true compact truck and neither does Ram, Toyota, or Nissan. The Maverick was the only Ford product that I wanted. If I wanted a larger truck I would have kept either my 99 S-10 extended cab with a 2.2 I-4 5 speed or my 08 Isuzu I-370 4 x 4 with the 3.7 I-5, tow package, heated leather seats, and other niceties and it road like a luxury vehicle. I believe the demand is there for other manufacturers to make compact pickups. The proposed hybrid Toyota Stout would be a great truck. Subaru has experience making small trucks and they could make a very competitive compact truck and Subaru has a great all wheel drive system. Chevy has a great compact pickup offered in South America called the Montana which gm could be made in North America and offered in the US and Canada. Ram has a great little compact truck offered in South America as well.
Groza George I don’t care about GM’s anything. They have not had anything of interest or of reasonable quality in a generation and now solely stay on business to provide UAW retirement while they slowly move production to Mexico.
Arthur Dailey We have a lease coming due in October and no intention of buying the vehicle when the lease is up.Trying to decide on a replacement vehicle our preferences are the Maverick, Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5 or CX-30.Unfortunately both the Maverick and Subaru are thin on the ground. Would prefer a Maverick with the hybrid, but the wife has 2 'must haves' those being heated seats and blind spot monitoring. That requires a factory order on the Maverick bringing Canadian price in the mid $40k range, and a delivery time of TBD. For the Subaru it looks like we would have to go up 2 trim levels to get those and that also puts it into the mid $40k range.Therefore are contemplating take another 2 or 3 year lease. Hoping that vehicle supply and prices stabilize and purchasing a hybrid or electric when that lease expires. By then we will both be retired, so that vehicle could be a 'forever car'. And an increased 'carbon tax' just kicked in this week in most of Canada. Prices are currently $1.72 per litre. Which according to my rough calculations is approximately $5.00 per gallon in US currency.Any recommendations would be welcomed.
Eric Wait! They're moving? Mexico??!!
GrumpyOldMan All modern road vehicles have tachometers in RPM X 1000. I've often wondered if that is a nanny-state regulation to prevent drivers from confusing it with the speedometer. If so, the Ford retro gauges would appear to be illegal.