Ford has launched its new Transit skeletal chassis cab, which can be used by coachbuilt motorhome manufacturers.

The new skeletal Transit offers a 100mm lower chassis height than the standard front-wheel drive chassis cab model, providing easier access to the rear. With a 200kg weight reduction compared to the equivalent chassis cab, the optimised design of the skeletal chassis also provides operators with a significant payload advantage.

“The new Transit skeletal chassis opens up exciting new opportunities for grocery delivery vehicles and other low-floor body conversions where ease of access is paramount,” said Hans Schep, General Manager of Commercial Vehicles at Ford of Europe.

The skeletal chassis model is based on a front-wheel drive Transit platform, and features an open-backed cab design that supports easy walk-through from the cab to the load space of the converted body. Coachbuilt manufacturers can specify a choice of three different wheelbase lengths to suit a variety of body conversions, with a wide-track rear axle for the longest variant and an optional wide-track rear axle for the two shorter variants. All versions offer a gross vehicle mass of 3.5 tonnes.

The Transit skeletal chassis derivative is offered with Ford’s 2.0 litre EcoBlue diesel engine in 130bhp or 170bhp outputs, paired with a standard six-speed manual transmission. Customers can also choose a six-speed automatic transmission.