Ford is betting that at future vacation dinners, 2060s ‘tweens will stare at antiquated JPEGs, laughing.
“Hey, Joey, Grandma and Granddad use to dwell in a van!”
“Not only a van, Chloe. A Ford Transit Path.”
An all-wheel-drive medium-duty van concerning the dimension of an airport shuttle or UPS van, the brand new 2023 Transit Path goals to rework Ford’s workhorse right into a trip getaway/rolling residence for something from weekend journeys to years of residence.
“Folks usually ask us what our favourite place is and our reply is continually altering as a result of we’re all the time discovering new locations,” write Joe and Kait Russo, who’ve traveled all through North America residing in quite a lot of automobiles since 2015.
They presently have a Storyteller Overland van constructed on a Ford F-350 chassis, after a number of years with a Ford F-350 crew cab pickup with a mattress camper. The Russos write RV journey guides and suggestions.
Additionally they have a brick-and-mortar home, however the U.S. Census Bureau estimates about 140,000 folks dwell in vehicles, boats or motor houses. Some do it by alternative, others by necessity, as depicted within the Academy Award-winning movie “Nomadland.”
A clean canvas
The essential concept: Ford does what it’s good at, constructing a automobile with the newest security and comfort options.
DIYers and aftermarket retailers take it from there, remodeling Ford’s clean canvas into customized residing area.
The 2023 Ford Transit Path goes into manufacturing quickly. Ford sellers are taking orders now. The primary Transit Trails ought to be on dealership heaps in spring 2023.
Transit Path costs begin at $65,975, excluding vacation spot cost. Costs can soar from that start line, relying on inside options and supplies.
There isn’t any introduced plan for an electrical model, however battery-powered variations of the Transit supply van have been an sudden hit this yr, notching 5,157 gross sales since debuting earlier this yr. An E-Transit Path is possible.
Discovering a match with do-it-yourselfers
Ford developed the Transit Path so do-it-yourselfers might create inside fittings, reducing the edge price of #Vanlife in alternate for elbow grease and ingenuity.
An instance, in response to Tim Baughman, basic supervisor of Ford Professional: Many do-it-yourselfers are understandably hesitant to chop a gap for a roof vent of their $65K funding. Ford does that type of factor a whole bunch of occasions a day.“Do it yourselfers are the expansion phase” of RV gross sales, mentioned Transit Path advertising and marketing supervisor Julie Ellen. “They wish to do their very own interiors.”
Notably welcome to DIY house owners on a finances: The Transit Path comes with Ford’s normal guarantee: three years/36,000 miles bumper to bumper and 5/50 powertrain.
As well as, any Ford vendor can service the automobile, Baughman mentioned. That may imply large financial savings in money and time versus discovering somebody to work on third-party modifications.
Normal inside options embrace:
- Swiveling entrance seats
- Storage shelf above entrance seats
- 12-inch contact display
- 4G Wi-Fi hotspot
- HD radio
- 110-volt, 12-volt and USB retailers
- Twin 12-volt batteries
Driver help options on Ford Transit Path
- Keypad entry
- Adaptive cruise management
- Auto excessive beams
- Blind spot and cross site visitors help with trailer protection
- Lane retaining help
- Ahead collision help
- Submit-collision braking
- Reverse and facet sensing
- Entrance and rear split-view digital camera
- Selectable drive modes: regular, eco, mud/ruts, tow/haul, slippery
Manufacturing unit lifted journey, cool wheels, confirmed drivetrains
“The Transit Path is the lacking piece of our RV pie,” Baughman mentioned. “We’re doing the stuff that’s troublesome for the shopper and leaving the within customization to them.”
The Transit van is Ford’s workhorse van, a industrial automobile utilized by all kinds of companies and successful world wide. After falling gross sales through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford is including a 3rd shift at its Kansas Metropolis plant in anticipation of rising U.S. gross sales due to recovering demand and new fashions like the electrical E-Transit and gasoline-powered Transit Path.
Along with normal all-wheel drive, a twin-turbo V6 gasoline engine and 10-speed computerized transmission, the Transit Path is available in two wheelbases — 235.5 inches and 263.9 inches lengthy — and three roof heights. All Transit Trails are tall sufficient for most individuals to face upright as they stroll by way of them, and to accommodate options like raised, loft-style beds with space for storing under.
The Transit Path’s physique is lifted 3.5 inches greater than normal Transit supply vans to make it straightforward to drive to campsites. All-terrain 30.5-inch Goodyear Wrangler tires are normal. The bumpers are modified to enhance strategy and departure angles.
Different seen variations:
- Aspect marker lamps
- Fog lamps 2¾-inch wider monitor
- Black grille, molding and wheels
Ford Transit and Tremendous Obligation chassis are already generally used for bigger RVs — referred to as lessons A and C. The class for smaller vans just like the Transit Path is class B. No one’s positive why; it simply is.
When Henry Ford went glamping
Customized vans are nothing new to Ford. Firm founder Henry Ford and associates — to not name-drop, however former President Warren G. Harding, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone; that’s life whenever you’re the richest particular person on this planet — referred to as themselves the Vagabonds and went cross-country glamping in 1915.
Within the Nineteen Sixties, the splendidly named Ford Econoline van took up the torch, serving because the chassis for RVs as much as the 27-foot dual-axle Vacation Rambler.
The Econoline-based 1968 Condor coach was the primary van upfitter Ford labored with.
By 1970, greater than 1,000 variations of Econoline could possibly be constructed for industrial and private use. They embrace vans with plastic porthole home windows, shag carpet, built-in waterbeds and air-brushed portraits of every part from rainbows to dying’s heads.
2023 Ford Transit Path at a look
Base worth: $65,975 (all costs exclude vacation spot cost)
All-wheel medium-duty van
In dealerships: spring, 2023
Engine: 3.5L bi-turbo V6
Output: 310 hp @ 5,000 rpm; 400 pound-feet of torque @ 2,400 rpm
Transmission: 10-speed computerized
EPA gas financial system estimate: Not accessible
Wheelbase: 147.6 inches
Size: 235.5 or 263.9 inches
Width: 97 inches (together with mirrors)
Top: 105, 133.3 or 114 inches
Cargo quantity: 357.1, 404.3, 487.3 or cubic toes behind entrance seats
Load peak: 31.9 inches
Floor clearance: 6.7 inches
Base curb weight: 5,767-6,094 kilos
Payload: 3,406-3,703 kilos
Towing capability: 6,500 kilos
Assembled in Claycomo, Missouri
Contact Mark Phelan: mmphelan@freepress.com. Comply with him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Comply with him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Learn extra on autos and join our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
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