The Ford Transit Custom has been scored the highest level on the Euro NCAP test for medium vans with a Platinum safety rating.

The new Transit Custom scored a total of 96% receiving the highes level of "Good" in all areas tested.

In the Autonomous Emergency Braking AEB CAR-TO-CAR tests it scored a total of 27.6/30 pts, while in the AEB PEDESTRIAN category it scored 9.3/10. For the AEB CYCLIST tests the Custom scored 9.2/10.

But it was the other three areas of the test, Lane Support, Speed Assistance and Occuptant Status Monitoring where the Transit Custom really excelled scoring full marks of 20/20 for Lane Support and 15/15 for both the Speed Assistance and Occupant Status Monitoring tests.

Euro NCAP's report on the Platinum safety score for the Ford Transit Custom said:

The Transit Custom, Ford’s mid-size van first introduced in 2012, is tested here in second-generation form, available since 2023. It is equipped with a broad range of high-performing safety equipment, much of it as standard equipment, which it shares with its passenger-carrying stablemate, the Tourneo Custom. And it excels, scoring full or nearly full points in all of Euro NCAP’s tests, and emerges with a thoroughly well-deserved Platinum grading.

A more detailed report went on to praise the Autonomous Emergency Braking systems, explaining the technology behind the safety systems that include digital mapping to identify local speed limits.

The Ford Transit Custom joins the Ford Transit Courier as Ford's second Platinum scoring van in the Euro NCAP tests.

Euro NCAP's full comments for the safety assist perfomance test are below:

"The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system uses radar-camera fusion technology to detect other vehicles and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Performance is good when approaching a stationary or slower-moving car, with collisions avoided at most test speeds, albeit with slight drop-off in performance of the forward-collision warning at the highest speeds. The system performs equally well whether the target vehicle is straight in front of it or offset to one side or the other, and there is good reaction in the scenarios where a vehicle turns across the path of the approaching van. With a pedestrian target, the system performs well in all scenarios, including those done in night-time conditions. The system reacts equally well in Euro NCAP’s cyclist scenarios, again scoring almost full points."

"The lane support system includes lane departure warning, which signals to the driver when the van is drifting out of lane, and emergency lane keeping, which intervenes more aggressively in certain critical situations to prevent the van from leaving the road. The system performed well in all tests, and includes blind spot monitoring to help the driver not to pull out in front of an overtaking vehicle."

"The Transit Custom uses a camera and digital mapping to identify the local speed limit and provides the information to the driver, allowing the limiter to be set accordingly. The limiter is able to maintain the set speed to within 5 km/h. A seatbelt reminder is standard for the driver and front passenger seat, and the Transit Custom recognises steering behaviour which is characteristic of fatigued driving, alerting the driver to the need for a break."

Euro NCAP - Commercial Van Safety 2024 report, 24 April 2024

The new 2025 Volkswagen Transporter has gone on sale (in Germany) ahead of it's arrival in the European market in 2025.

The next generation of the Transporter van will be based on the Ford Transit Custom, and will be the successor to the Volkswagen Transporter 6.1 which has been on sale 2015 and ended production in 2023.

The newest Volkswagen Transporter van has yet to be named, and although there is some doubt that the Transporter will continue to use the numbering system that has been in place since the Transporter T1 was introduced in 1949, there's a strong chance we'll be seeing the Volkswagen Transporter T7 in 2025.

The collaboration with Ford, however, does mean that Volkswagen is no longer involved in the production of the Transporter van, but the next generation Transporter will be a customer vehicle derived from the Ford product. The Transporter's traditional production home in Hannover has been retooled to produced other vehicles including the Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo. The Volkswagen Amarok pick-up truck, which was also produced in Hannover, has also been changed to a Ford collaboration product and is now based on the Ford Ranger pick-up which is built in South Africa and Thailand.

The new Transporter will also be launched as a Caravelle people mover, which will be a close relation of the Volkswagen-made Volkswagen Multivan.

The new platform with its increased exterior length, width and wheelbase has meant that the Volkswagen Transporter will have a greater load volume and payload capacity. The new Transporter range in 2025 will have a load volume starting at 5.8 m³. The increase in the van's width will mean that the maximum width between the wheelarches for the Volkswagen Transporter will be increased by 148mm to a maximum of 1,392 mm.

Payload of the next Transporter in the standard wheelbase, and as a diesel model, will increase to 1.3 tonnes - up from 1.2 tonnes.

The maximum trailer towing weight also increases from 2.5 tonnes to 2.8 tonnes for the diesel vans.

For the first time, the new Transporter will be available with a plug-in hybrid option called Transporter eHybrid. There will also be a fully electric driveline eTransporter that will be an official model in the line-up - unlike the Volkswagen 6.1 eTransporter which was made by ABT.

Sales will start with the turbodiesel models which will be launched with panel van, panel van Plus, panel van with L-partition and double cab models.

Diesel variants will have three outputs of 81kW (110 PS), 110kW (150 PS) and 125kW (170 PS).

The range will then be increased with a plug-in hybrid driveline which will come with 171kW (233 PS).

Finally, the fully electric Transporter range will have a total of four electric motors with 85kW (116 PS), 100kW (136 PS), 160kW (218 PS) and 210kW (286 PS).

Battery options for the fully electric Transporter will include 83 kWh, while the entry-level model with 85kW motor will get a 54kWh battery.

TDI and eHybrid models will be front-wheel drive as standard, but a 4MOTION all-wheel drive system is available as an option for the TDI versions from 110kW upwards.

Electric model Transporter vans will be rear-wheel drive but an all-wheel drive version is also planned.

Prices for German specification models, which are now available to order, will start from €36,780 euros.