Dead: Ford Transit Connect

A photo of a worker taking tools out the back of a Transit Connect van.

The Ford Transit Connect’s days are numbered. Photo: Ford

The Ford Transit Connect is a great little van. It’s big enough to fill with bikes and camping gear on a weekend adventure, but also small and nimble enough for navigating city streets. Sadly, not enough people shared my love for this little van, so it’s being killed off at the end of next year.

That’s right, as Ford amps up its electrification with a battery-powered full size Transit, the smaller model in its commercial fleet isn’t being given the same treatment. Instead, the Transit Connect is getting shot down in its prime, according to Automotive News.

If this has all come as a bit of a shock to my fellow van fans, it’s because it seems a little out of the blue. Just last year, Ford was reportedly eyeing up its Mexico plant to build a successor to the Transit Connect, but these plans have reportedly been scrapped.

A photo of someone taking a kayak off the roof of an orange Transit Connect van.

The Transit Connect is big enough for a weekend adventure, but small enough for city streets. Photo: Ford

Ford, which currently imports the Transit Connect from its factories in Spain, had apparently been working on a plan to build a next-generation Transit Connect at its Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico from 2023. There, it would be assembled alongside the Bronco Sport SUV.

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But instead of giving the people of America the car they all really need, Ford will soon make the Transit Connect a European-exclusive – something I also hope to become one day. As per Automotive News:

The automaker scrapped that plan earlier this year, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal decisions that have not been made public. Ford will stop importing the van for the U.S. market by the end of next year, the people said, although the nameplate will live on as a Europe-only model.

A photo of a blue Ford Transit Connect at a garden center.

Ford sells the Transit Connect as a passenger or cargo van.Photo: Ford

As it stands, the Transit Connect is available to buy in the U.S. as a cargo van or in a passenger spec. But, when it leaves these fine shores people in the market for a small van will have very limited options.

In recent years, Nissan has killed off the NV200 and the Chevrolet City Express van was cut by GM in 2018. What’s more, Americans are deprived of the quite lovely VW Caddy, meaning that soon options for a small van will be limited to the Ram Promaster City and not a lot else.