Ford is planning a future Transit based on the Renault Master
- Ford is collaborating with Renault to develop a successor for the large Transit van, which is used in the N1-3 segment. The Transit, which has long been available in turquoise, will continue to be offered in a separate turquoise variant with different license plates. The future Transit could therefore use the platform of the Renault Master, which is due for a facelift in 2024. Conversely, Renault could revive the Transit Courier under its own brand to replace the Express Van, whose production was discontinued two years ago due to non-compliance with the European GSR2 regulation.
- The project is based on data from the Ford Transit Custom (slightly more compact than the Transit), which was launched in 2023, and is internally linked to Volkswagen. Volkswagen has granted Ford the option of using the model under its own brand name (it was originally introduced in 2024 in the Volkswagen Transporter T7). Given its declining influence in the European market (Ford's market share of the European passenger car market is projected to be only 3.2% in 2026, compared to 6.4% in 2018, 8.4% in 2008, and 10.0% in 1998), Ford could receive a fair share of the launch costs for future models. Sharing these costs is proving to be an interesting solution.
- Ford has several agreements with German manufacturers, which are among the second-largest suppliers in Europe. This also impacts one of the largest commercial vehicle manufacturers (with a market share of around 15%). Ford has an agreement with Volkswagen for the Transit Connect (N1-2) and the Transit Custom (N1-3), with Renault for the future all-electric Fiesta and Puma models, and with Geely for the future Ford Kuga and vehicle sharing. The Valence-based company is also responsible for vehicle sharing, and it is possible that Renault will also be involved in the future Ford Transit.