Friday, September 4, 2015

Those New Little City Vans

Those New Little City Vans

The Ford Transit Connect was the first cute international style cargo minivan. Now there are other entries.


Dodge ProMaster City is actually the Fiat Doblò built in Turkey, based on a compact car platform.

Wikipedia: Ram ProMaster City. FCA US rebadged the Doblò as the Ram ProMaster City for the North American market. The Ram ProMaster City is an Americanised version of the Fiat Doblò. The ProMaster City is built in the same plant in Turkey as the Doblò and imported to North America. To circumvent the chicken tax, only passenger vans are imported into North America, with cargo vans being post-import conversions. Unlike the Doblò, passenger versions of the ProMaster City use solid metal panels instead of glass in its rear quarters, and third row seating and the lift tailgate are not offered. The 2.4-liter Tigershark engine mated to the 948TE 9-speed automatic transmission is the only powertrain available for the ProMaster City. It uses a small car platform with compact transverse engine at the front with front-wheel drive.

2. Ram ProMaster City Car and Driver: fresh from Italy via Chrysler’s Ram Truck division. In Europe, this vehicle is known as the Doblò, a successful Fiat offering that has recently freshly embarked on its third generation. In Ram dealerships it’s the ProMaster City, a smaller-scale sequel to the big ProMaster, which is also an Americanized Fiat (known as Ducato in Europe). Americanized, in this instance, means slightly higher ride height and heavier suspension components, in recognition of bad road conditions in some urban areas. Emerging mid-size category, established here by the Transit Connect in 2010 and fortified by the Nissan NV200 and its Chevrolet clone, the City Express.

 

Car and Driver Lurking behind the bow tie on the grille is actually a Nissan NV200, but that’s not all bad. It’s a bow tie, not a black tie, so the City Express is a cargo-carrier only