Ford says its One Stop bodybuilding programme, which currently accounts for 43% of all Transit chassis cab sales and 7.5% of the entire 3.5-tonne segment, has been boosted by Duty of Care legislation.
"Companies are getting worried about Duty of Care," a spokeswoman explains, "and want the safest bodies on the market. This is triggering more of them to come back to Ford's One Stop bodies."
She says
the tipper body, which Ford claims to be one of the safest in the world, is seeing a significant sales revival. The model features a number of innovative safety features, including an in-cab tipping status monitoring screen. The tipper will only function when the operator answers a number of questions on the Tipper Control Module, and the radio/CD automatically mutes during the tipping operation.
Ford's decision to ramp-up Transit production is already having a positive effect on lead times for new vans. If you order a regular Transit panel van today it will be delivered in 12 to 16 weeks. Ford says the situation will continue to improve and expects it to get back to normal by the second half of the year.
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