The Ford Transit Trail was revealed for the European market back in June of 2020, giving shoppers in that region a more rugged off-road focused variant of FoMoCo’s best-selling van. A little over a year later, Ford filed a patent for Transit Trail in the U.S., signaling that the automaker was at least thinking about bringing the new model to America. Earlier this week, Ford Authority reported that the Ford Transit Trail could be coming to the U.S., and now, Ford Authority spies have spotted this rugged new van in Metro Detroit.
As is the case with the European Transit Trail, this model features a number of distinctive exterior enhancements that differentiate it from regular Transit vans. That starts up front with a bold “Ford” script grille reminiscent of the ones present on the Ford F-150 Raptor, Ford Ranger Raptor, and Ford Bronco Raptor. The Transit Trail also features additional black cladding around the front bumper.
Moving down the sides, the Transit Trail is wearing more black cladding on its lower side panels, which contains “Trail” badges in the front lower portion. The rugged van rolls on a set of black 16-inch alloy wheels.
The lower body black cladding continues to the rear, adding a bit of a two-tone effect to the large van. In this case, the Transit Trail is equipped with an EPA exhaust for testing purposes, hence the elongated tips that protrude past the rear bumper.
In addition to these exterior enhancements, the Ford Transit Trail has also been fortified underneath with a new mechanical limited-slip differential (mLSD) on front-wheel-drive models, or Intelligent All-Wheel Drive with AWD Lock Mode, as well as Slippery and Mud/Rut Selectable drive modes. On the inside, the off-road-focused van is equipped with full leather seating, air conditioning, a Quickclear heated windshield, power-foldable door mirrors, and auto lighting.
In Europe, the Transit Trail is powered by Ford’s 2.0L EcoBlue diesel engine with a choice of 130 PS (128 horsepower), 170 PS (167 horsepower), and 185 PS (182 horsepower) outputs, as well as either an automatic or manual transmission. Currently, the North American Transit comes standard with the Ford 3.5L Duratec V6 while the Ford 3.5L EcoBoost V6 is optional.
We’ll have more on the Transit Trail soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford Transit news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comment
Also what is not covered in this writeup is the fact that it appears to be an UK or Australian version of the van as the driver is on the right side and the sliding door on the left side.
Tail lights are also the European version currently not sold in the US.
I don’t see any “additional black cladding around the front bumper” but I do see a gray (or silver) element at the bottom of the said bumper, previously shown on the European “Trail” trim.