Chart Of The Day: The Rise Of Commercial Van Sales In America – 2015 Q1

Nissan Primastar = Renault Trafic = Opel Vivaro. Nissan NV400 = Renault Master = Opel Movano. Because it's very expensive to develop (new) vans there are a lot of joint-ventures. All in all I'd say that Fiat is the Master of Vans. They've got 5 models (sizes). From small to big: the Fiorino, the Doblò (Ram ProMaster City), the Scudo, the Ducato (Ram ProMaster) and their biggest is the Iveco Daily. The "ultimate" van joint-venture these days, as far as I know: Fiat Scudo = Peugeot Expert = Citroën Jumpy = Toyota ProAce. If Ram joins the club there's 5 of them.

At this point, the van market isn't large enough or profitable enough to justify having a US-specific vehicle. Mulally was just being practical. There isn't much point in spending several hundred million dollars to develop a relatively low-price vehicle with limited distribution. The business decision is similar to what was done with the Crown Victoria -- milk it for as long as possible, but don't spend money on developing a replacement. If Americans were willing to pay F-series prices for vans, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. But they won't, so we are.

@Pch101, The US van market is very large. The problem with the van market or I should say manufacture of vans is it faces the same hurdles as the US pickup market. That is the restrictive controls placed on importing vans into the US. Vans imported into the US face a 25% import tax. If this tax didn't exist the importation of vans would occur and increase competition. This competition would drive down prices. This would be a win for the consumer, especially business.

@BAFO - It may be a mystery why Americans reject hatchbacks while they're so ubiquitous around the world, but the lack of a meaningful USA/NA van market is obvious. First we have a more than a meaningful pickup market, with crazy high resale values. Second is poor or non existent resale value of work vans. Lack of meaningful demand repels Big 3 US entrants into the van segment (aside from outsourcing), and equally repels global OEMs. Which takes us back to lack to our lack of hatchback choices/entrants, including not much Big 3 participation. OEMs go where the money's at. Snivel all you want, but remember history's Mini Truck Dynasty.

They offer an AWD option now, and nobody is stopping anyone from buying proper winter tires for their van. That being said, I hope the Transit crushes the Sprinter and I won't have to work on those garbage piles anymore.

@MBella The new Transit is less capable, do not bother to sell the same 3.2 Litre Unit here. Eco boost version has slightly less capability than the diesel version. Sprinter on the numbers given will sell more as local production ramps up

@RobertRyan Sprinter will lose market share as long as the number of competitors increases, until they definitively fix their premature rusting problem, among other things. Ford has a lot of this market locked up. As far as I can tell, the Transit is better in every meaningful way than the E-series was (except perhaps being more expensive), and Ford already had that market locked up even with the old van, so I wouldn't expect this to change. I bought a Ram ProMaster a.k.a. Fiat Ducato about a year ago; the front drive allowing a lower loading floor was the deciding factor. We just did 2800 km on vacation this past week.

@Brian P, That is what local production would address

@Brian P How would local production address Sprinter's corrosion problem? The Sprinter bodyshells are currently assembled and painted in Germany with only just enough left off so that the remaining assembly in North America gets them out of paying the tax. If they wanted to fix this at the plant in Germany, they could. And should. Other German-made vehicles, including other M-B products, don't have this problem. Sprinters rust everywhere, including in the middle of panels, not just the bottom of the doors, and that sounds like poor materials and paint.

@Brian P The current Sprinter is fairly Generic, built for many markets, the U.S. Sprinter will be built for US/NA conditions, as well as reducing the price. That rust problem, seems to be a specific NA issue, not really encountered elsewhere.Maybe as a result of its rebuilding, handling in the U.S. Who knows Volvo does something with its Heavy Trucks as the NA Truck, does not exist anywhere else. It was designed to fit NA supply lines and preferences

@Brian P It appears the Petrol, Fiat Ducato(Promaster) and the Sprinter are expanding as Class C Motorhome bases in the U.S. The Transit makes a cheap and more effective replacement for the E Series Basic Vans

@Brian P Dad had a Ford Econoline van when I was growing up, and been in plenty of E-Series 15 passenger vans doing non-profit work. So I was not sure about the Transit until our church rented one a few weeks ago and I got to check it out. Low center of gravity means that it does not drive like a truck anymore. Excellent visibility, and lots of comfortable seats instead of bench seats. Great driver accomidations, and has same type mirrors as the cars in the Ford lineup. I was very impressed; it most certainly is better than the old E-Series; and should do well in marketplace. Only downside is it's looks; the kids called a "spaceship"; and it may be too radical for some businesses.

@RobertRyan Nothing is a worthless as the Sprinter. Very few companies buy more of them once they find out just how high the operating costs are. So far the Transit is crushing the Sprinter the only question is whether Ford will continue to outsell the GM twins in the long run. The Sprinter, Ram and Nissan will remain also rans.

Fiat Ducato has a huge part of the motorhome market in Europe. The design of this van puts just about everything that makes it go, including the fuel tank and muffler, ahead of the B pillar, so that what's behind is just a big empty box (or bare chassis rails) with only the wiring for the taillights, brake lines, etc. No driveshaft to make room for, no fuel filler to work around, and the floor is very low. There are some air suspension kits available so that it can be made to ride very well (and even in stock form, it's not bad). Sprinter got a head start in the North American market, though. Even so, the Ford E-series cab-and-chassis and cutaways are still going to be around for a while ...

@ Brian P I do not expect the Transit to make much of an impact in the MH market, maybe as a Class B base. As a basic delivery Van , it will have much more capability than the old Econoline

@RobertRyan As long as the cutaway E series is in production it will remain the leader in the MH market as it has for several decades. Once the E series goes away it will be interesting to see if GM takes over in that market. The Sprinter has been around with one badge or another for around a decade now and they still do not sell but a handful per year to the class C builders.