Whichever way you look at it, the Ford Transit is a massive vehicle for Ford and the van market as a whole

Ford Transit is a big vehicle in terms of the reach and recognition of the Transit brand, it’s massive in terms of its on-going dominance of the UK panel van segment and the all-new model is bigger than ever in the metal too. It’s been the market leading van in the UK since 1965, over which time more than 2.2m of the things have been sold and, amazingly, around 700,000 remain on the road. One in every four UK vans is a Ford Transit.

In 2013, the Ford Transit was Ford’s third best selling nameplate behind the Fiesta and the Focus. It even out-sold the BMW 3-Series and now there’s a new version to try and open the gap to more direct rivals like the Vauxhall Movano, Mercedes Sprinter and Citroen Relay.

The wider Transit range includes the Transit Courier and Transit Connect compact vans plus the Transit Custom mid-sized panel van. Those models leave the Ford Transit free to concentrate on the large panel van market and it does so with the traditionally baffling range of body styles.

Ford has improved panel van load volumes by 10% across the range, added a raft of new technology features and made the van easier to drive.  It’s an impressive feat of engineering by Ford. Storage is pretty good with lots of options for stowing small to mid-size items, but the Transit may be found lacking in areas to plonk larger stuff.  It’ll have to go in the bin concealed under the passenger seat.