The Ford Transit Courier revealed at the end of last week will soon become the brand’s cheapest model in Europe, and will also be available with an all-electric drivetrain option.
It’s the smallest member of the Transit family, and replaces the Fiesta-based first-generation model launched in 2014. The new Transit Courier eschews the second version of Ford’s Kinetic Design in favour a boxy and upright stance.
The headline variant in the new range is the E-Transit Courier, which has a 100kW electric motor driving the front wheels, and is available with one-pedal driving.
Ford hasn’t revealed all the details about the electric drivetrain, so we don’t know about the battery size and estimated driving range. The company says, though, it supports AC charging up to 11kW, and DC fast charging up to 100kW.
In Europe, the E-Transit Courier will come with one year’s free access to the BlueOval Charging Network, which is aiming to have 500,000 public chargers available by 2024.
Under the skin, the new Transit Courier shares its platform with the Puma. And the E-Transit Courier’s drivetrain will likely be reused for the Puma EV also due in 2024.
Both the Transit Courier and Puma EV will be in Romania at a plant owned by Ford Otosan, a joint venture between the Blue Oval and Koç Holding, a large Turkish conglomerate. The Romanian factory current makes the Puma, and is currently winding down local production of the EcoSport.
Although the focus of the second-generation Transit Courier’s launch was the electric variant, it won’t be going into production until “later in 2024”, while the petrol- and diesel-powered models will start rolling out the factory during the northern summer.
The E-Transit Courier is the second EV launched by Ford in Europe over the past few weeks, with the smaller Explorer EV making its debut in March.
While the Transit Courier rides on a Ford platform, the European Explorer EV is based on Volkswagen’s MEB architecture, but built by Ford at one of its plant in Cologne, Germany.
A “coupe SUV” based on the Volkswagen platform will launch next year, and could revive the Capri name.
It is part of a broad partnership between Ford and Volkswagen to jointly develop a number of models. These include the Ford Ranger-based Volkswagen Amarok ute, the Volkswagen Caddy-based Ford Transit Connect, and a Volkswagen van based on the Ford Transit Custom.
