Ford to bring Transit Connect to U.S., report says

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Ford Motor Co. will announce at next week’s Chicago Auto Show that it plans to bring its European panel van, the Transit Connect, to the U.S.

The report states that Ford hopes to have volumes of about 20,000 vehicles by the end of 2009, importing the vans from its factory in Turkey. Sales of the Transit Connect rose to 69,572 in 2006, according to the latest data from Global Insight.

Large vans make up about 2% of all light-duty cars and trucks sold in the U.S., with 325,744 sold last year, the report said.