Fully loaded from both sides
The Ford Tourneo Connect has been around for several years as the passenger car variant of the Ford equivalent of the Volkswagen Caddy. Now there is also a plug-in hybrid. Can it attract the Tourneo Connect to the Netherlands for the first time?
The naming of Ford’s European commercial vehicles is so confusing that we repeatedly feel the need to explain it. Since there is no one to stop us in the home office, we are going to do that again. The basis is that Ford’s commercial vehicles are called ‘Transit’ and their passenger car models are known as ‘Tourneo’. The Transit is available in four sizes: Transit Courier, Transit Connect, Transit Custom and ‘normal’ Transit, the largest of the bunch. The smallest three have passenger car equivalents, which are therefore called Tourneo Courier, Tourneo Connect and Tourneo Custom respectively.
Then it is important to keep in mind that Ford now collaborates with Volkswagen. As a result, the new Volkswagen Amarok is actually a Ford Ranger and the new Transporter becomes a derivative of the Transit Custom. The collaboration also works the other way, because the Transit Connect/Tourneo Connect is in fact a slightly modified Volkswagen Caddy.
Yet Ford has an advantage in this segment, because unlike the Caddy, the Transit Connect is already available as a plug-in hybrid. Like its delivery brother, the car is powered by a partnership between an electric motor and a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, which together produce 150 hp. They are linked to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission – hello, DSG – and can drive fully electric for up to 110 kilometers. If desired, the Ford Tourneo Connect PHEV can even be used on a fast charger, where you can fill it up again with a maximum of 50 kW. Would you rather charge at home? This is possible with a 3-phase charger and 11 kW.
There is no shortage of practical ease of use in the Tourneo Connect, not even in the PHEV. There is a five-seater, but also a longer Grand Tourneo Connect PHEV with seven seats. Unlike before in the US, it is not mandatory to remove those seats. However, if you do this, you will have a cargo hold of 3,100 liters in the long version, and still 2,600 liters in the shorter variant.
The Netherlands
As a PHEV, the Tourneo Connect naturally has low CO2 emissions and that is interesting, because in theory it makes it possible to offer it in the Netherlands for somewhat reasonable prices. This is not the case with the regular Tourneo Connect and that explains why Ford Netherlands does not carry that model. We asked the importer about a possible Dutch career for this socket, but unfortunately: the PHEV will not come to the Netherlands either. The importer wants to focus instead on the fully electric Ford E-Tourneo Courier, but it is smaller, less spacious and always seats five.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl