Ford has revealed the new Ford Transit City, a Chinese-made joint-venture van with an electric only powertain set to join the range later this year.
The all-new addition to its iconic Transit line-up, is not just a new name new it will also be the first joint-venture in its core van line-up with a vehicle produced by Chinese partners JMC.
Ford Transit City will be produced in Nanchang, China, on a dedicated EV platform built to a single specification with urban van fleet operators and conversion markets in mind. Ford sees the new Transit City as a lower-cost route into electrification compared to its existing product line-up.
The fifth model in the Transit Range closely matches the size of the Transit Custom and will come in three body types, with two panel vans and a chassis cab. Panel vans will be available as a short wheelbase, low roof L1H1 and a medium wheelbase, high roof L2H2, covering similar cubic capacities as the E-Transit Custom.
Read our guide to the best medium electric vans
Ford says the smaller model will have a 6.4m3 load volume, while the larger L2H2 Transit City will have an 8.5m3 volume. The bigger van will also be capable of transporting lengths of up to 3,070mm, while the smaller van has a maximum load length of 2,770mm.
Payload for the Transit City will be a maximum of 1275kg for the L2H2, which has a gross vehicle weight of 3.3-tonnes, and 1,085kg for the L1H1 which is a 3-tonne van.
Despite closely matching the medium van for size the Ford Transit City will sit below the E-Transit Custom in terms of price but above the E-Transit Courier.
That means we can expect the Ford Transit City to sit somewhere between the £27,000 priced electric Courier and the £43,600 cost of an electric Custom van. To save on costs and complexity there will be no optional extras and just one trim across Europe. We would therefore expect the Transit City to cost in around £33,000 to £35,000 at launch.
Read our Ford E-Transit Custom review
Although it will be an electric-only van, the Transit City doesn't adopt the E-Transit naming convention. Ford says this is because unlike the other models on offer the Transit City is a pure-electric only product, with no diesel or plug-in hybrid variants.
Power comes from a 110 kW e-motor, and unlike its E-Transit Custom sibling that power will be delivered to the front wheels. The van has also been optimised for one-pedal driving to improve efficiency and to help reduce brake wear.
Energy storage comes in the form of a 56kWh LFP battery, which Ford says will deliver a range of up to 158 miles (254km) for the short wheelbase model.
Emphasising the careful cost consideration, for a medium-sized van that's a relatively small battery size.
Just last year Ford upped its battery size in the Ford E-Transit Custom from 64kWh to 71kWh. Rivals like the Vauxhall Vivaro have a 68kWh battery pack, and even the much smaller Kia PV5 Cargo has a 51.5kWh battery as standard in the UK.
Read our Kia PV5 Cargo review
The Transit City will be capable of fast charging using a DC power supply at a speed of up to 87kW, with an average of 67kW. That's enough to take the battery from 10% to 80% in 30 minutes, or sufficient to add 31 miles of range (50kmw) in around 10 minutes. It will also have 11kW AC charging as standard, which will allow you to charge the battery from 10% to 100% in five hours.
Read our guide for more on the Transit City range, batteries and charging
Ford says that the smaller battery aligns more closely with the real-world usage expected of its customers, with 90% of electric van customers in this segment driving less than 68 miles (110km) per day.
Transit City is aimed squarely at last-mile delivery, maintenance fleets, and city operators.
The inclusion of a chassis cab marks Ford’s first entry into the electric one-ton chassis cab segment, opening the door to factory-approved conversions such as tippers, box vans and other bodies. There will even be a refrigerated body available from early 2027 when the Transit City will get an ePTO to power it.
Notably, the Transit City does not offer towing, which reinforces its position as a dedicated city van. Instead, Ford says it is complementary to the E-Transit Custom, which will continue to serve customers needing higher capability, including towing of up to 2.5 tonnes.
That's right. In order to keep the cost down there won't be the usual extensive price list and options that we've become accustomed to on other Transit models.
Instead that Transit City will get a paired back level of equipment, but enough to make it appeal to its key fleet demographic.
Equipment said to be included will be:
There will also be full telematics integration via Ford Pro’s connected ecosystem, with optional plug-in hardware for fleet management systems.
Transit City has been developed in collaboration with Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), a long-standing Ford joint venture partner.
They operate the Jiangling Ford Motor Technology (Shanghai) Company (Jiangling Ford) together, of which JMC owns a 51% and Ford a 49% stake, where they produce Ford-branded vehicles.
The Transit City shares much of its content with the JMC Touring electric vehicle, but Ford says there are some fundamental differences, including a completely new high-volt battery and front-wheel drive. They say it has been specifically designed for the European customer, and does not share any components with the E-Transit Custom.
Ford became a major shareholder of JMC in 1995 and has successfully produced several Ford-branded vehicles and components in the Chinese market. JMC exports Ford vehicles to countries in the Middle East, ASEAN region and South America. These include the Ford Territory midsize SUV, Ford Equator Sport and Transit van.
Read our Ford Transit review
Order books are expected to open early Q2 2026, with first UK and European deliveries arriving in early Q4 2026 with October to November arrivals most likely.
Service internals are two years or 25,000 miles (40,000km) and Transit City will also get an eight-year, 160,000km warranty for all high-voltage components.
