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[brett13]

From Today's WSJ: http://online.wsj.co...YWORDS=ford van

Death of the American Van As Styling Goes European

Say goodbye to the classic American van—the big living room on wheels that for baby boomers came to symbolize their free-spirit hippie days and family road trips.

The full-size van faded long ago as a passenger vehicle as families gravitated to minivans and later sport-utility vehicles. But it has continued to be a daily workhorse for millions of plumbers, electricians, painters and repairmen.

Now even that run is coming to an end. Ford Motor Co. plans to stop making its E-Series vans by 2014. General Motors Co. still builds Chevrolet and GMC vans but its models haven't been updated in years and sales are dwindling. Chrysler Group LLC quit building its truck-based Dodge Ram Van in 2003.

The Ford E-Series "has had its heyday. If you look at the last major upgrade of the van, you are looking at close to 10 years," said Phil Schreiber, North American fleet manager for Otis Elevator, which has more than 1,000 aging Ford van in service. "You are lucky on a good day to get 15 miles per gallon. That is no longer accepted by anybody."

Replacing the familiar work van are a coming generation of smaller, lighter commercial vehicles that are easier on gas similar to those spotted for years in Europe, navigating the narrow city streets.

In place of the E-Series, Ford next year will offer the Transit, a tall, sloping truck built on a lightweight body instead of the heavy steel frame used in full-size vans. Ford already offers a European-made compact van, called the Transit Connect, that has built a following with utilities and delivery companies. Chrysler plans to release next year a compact Ram van based on the Doblò, developed by majority owner, Fiat SpA. Chrysler sells a modified minivan called the Ram Cargo van.

Both would chase Daimler AG's full-size Sprinter, first introduced in the U.S. in 2001 and once sold by Chrysler as the Dodge Sprinter. Sales of the Mercedes van are up 24% in the first nine months of the year, to 15,402.

Daimler sells the vans in the U.S. through its U.S. Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner heavy truck dealerships.

Nissan Motor Co. next year plans to begin selling its NV200 small van in the U.S. in addition to its current, full size NV van.

Claus Tritt, who leads the North American commercial business for Mercedes-Benz, said the Sprinter would thrive even with the coming competition from Ford and Chrysler's future car-basked van. The company has extensive partnerships in the U.S. with companies that refit the vans for use as limousines, ambulances, recreational vehicles and mobile offices.

Mr. Schreiber, the fleet manager at Otis, said it is easy to see the appeal of these lighter trucks. The elevator companies began replacing its E-Series and GM vans a few years ago with smaller Transit Connects, and the switch saves the company 300,000 to 400,000 gallons of gasoline a year, or about $1 million. Ford plans to sell the E-series van for about a year alongside the Transit, stopping production in 2014.

Mr. Schreiber said he's very likely to buy the larger Transits when they arrive in late 2013. It would come with three different roof heights straight from the factory, eliminating the cost of retrofitting trucks when tall roofs are needed. That Transit also is supposed to get at least 25% better fuel economy than the E-Series.

Ford plans to build the Transit in the U.S. as well as Europe and is spending $1.1 billion upgrading a plant in Kansas City, Mo., to make it. "There is no customer that monitors operating costs closer than the commercial customer," said Tim Stoehr, Ford's commercial truck marketing manager. "We can prove [the Transit] has a better return."

The holdout right now is GM, which doesn't have plans for a European-style cargo van soon to replay its Savana or Express vans. "We definitely see a place for this full-size van in the market for a long time," said Joyce Mattman, director of GM Fleet and Commercial Operations.

Ms. Mattman says GM hopes it can counter the projected fuel economy gains of the so-called "Eurovans" by offering a familiar product that is easy to modify and costs less.

Ford has about 50% of the cargo-van market today in the U.S., and GM about 35%. Both companies have to improve the fuel economy of their vans to comply with the new gas-mileage targets put in place by the Obama administration.

While GM is sticking with its two full-size vans, coming fuel-economy regulations could force the company to redesign them dramatically, or replace them with lighter models.

The modern van first appeared on American roads nearly a half-century ago. Ford introduced the E-Series predecessor, called the Econoline, in 1961.

By the 1970s vans sporting murals on the outside and shag carpet on the inside could be found on college campuses across the country.

[ski3pin]

I'm still grousing about the demise of the Ranger. It breaks the heart...........