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Geneva Motor Show

This is the new Ford Transit van

Published: 22 Feb 2012

You never saw that one coming, did you? There they were, three smug presenters of Top Gear Australia reckoning on an easy win: them in a V8 Holden Commodore SS Ute vs us in a shoddy old Ford Transit van.

Then some XJ220 happened, and the trusty Ford spanked the Aussies. And we're getting that 3.5-litre twin-turbo unit ready again, as the new Transit has just been revealed. Sort of.

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Ford has given us the Tourneo Custom Concept van, showcasing the next generation of an "all-new family of one-tonne Ford Transit people movers and commercial vehicles". This makes us childishly excited because we're quite fond of the Transit: as much an integral part of the British landscape as Harry Potter flying over Big Ben on a broomstick.

It'll debut at next month's Geneva motor show, featuring a rather new design language for Ford's commercial vehicles, namely, that of its road cars. Doesn't it look like a pumped-up Focus?

There's more road-car goodness inside, too. There's a driver-orientated cockpit, a fully trimmed cabin with new rear seats, foldable into multiple configurations or removed completely, to make space for that 3.5-litre of course.

Speaking of engines, the Tourneo concept is powered by a 150bhp version of Ford's 2.2-litre Duratorq diesel engine, and features start/stop and regenerative charging. Production versions will come in three guises - 97bhp, 120bhp and 150bhp - as well as a six-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel-drive.

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And Ford tells us the Tourneo is based on a new global platform engineered to deliver car-like dynamics: we're promised good handling, enhanced ride comfort and reduced noise levels. Wonder what Stig would make of that...

Let us know what you think of the new Transit - ahem, Tourneo - and then choose which modern engine you'd like to see stuffed in the back of this.

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