Photo: Ford
The original VW Beetle and Fiat 500 may be the passenger cars that motorized Europe, but it was the Ford Transit that made European businesses flourish. Celebrating 50 years since the first Transit was produced in 1965, we now find ourselves in a day and age when some people use Transit as a generic term applying to any panel van sold in Europe.
As a birthday present, Ford of Europe hasn’t prepared 50 candles and a big cake for the Transit. Instead of that, it commissioned a study that highlights the impact of the van in the European economy. All kinds of vans of all shapes and sizes contributed a total of €584 billion to the major economies in France, Germany, and the UK during 2014.
Considering that Ford is the EU’s second commercial vehicle brand by sales volume, the four Transit vans currently available contributed a sizable chunk of the previously mentioned €584 billion. Commissioned by FoMoCo’s European division, the Centre for Economics and Business Research’s report highlights that vans are used in Europe for a very wide variety of businesses.
Online shopping transportation, waiting, plumbing, and plastering businesses, and more traditional industries (building, utilities, transport) make use of the van. As a prime example of the van’s backbone of business, the French registered 5,150,192 vans in 2014. France is followed by Spain with 4,601,790 registered vans. An interesting finding of the Centre for Economics and Business Research’s study tells that a million UK-registered vans traveled in 2014 the equivalent of driving 2.5 times around the world.
Because the UK-registered vans covered 102 billion kilometers driven in 2014, the study points out that €7 billion were collected from drivers in fuel duty alone. In the wake of the Transit’s 50th anniversary, we salute all the men and women that drive vans for a living and make our daily lives easier. For more info on the van's impact on the European economy, please refer to the release and infographics below.
Considering that Ford is the EU’s second commercial vehicle brand by sales volume, the four Transit vans currently available contributed a sizable chunk of the previously mentioned €584 billion. Commissioned by FoMoCo’s European division, the Centre for Economics and Business Research’s report highlights that vans are used in Europe for a very wide variety of businesses.
Online shopping transportation, waiting, plumbing, and plastering businesses, and more traditional industries (building, utilities, transport) make use of the van. As a prime example of the van’s backbone of business, the French registered 5,150,192 vans in 2014. France is followed by Spain with 4,601,790 registered vans. An interesting finding of the Centre for Economics and Business Research’s study tells that a million UK-registered vans traveled in 2014 the equivalent of driving 2.5 times around the world.
Because the UK-registered vans covered 102 billion kilometers driven in 2014, the study points out that €7 billion were collected from drivers in fuel duty alone. In the wake of the Transit’s 50th anniversary, we salute all the men and women that drive vans for a living and make our daily lives easier. For more info on the van's impact on the European economy, please refer to the release and infographics below.
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