When did 1 ton cargo vans go FWD?

[tcp71]

Been driving behind some big cargo vans from Stelantis or whatever they are now and I can see a single beam across the rear axle with no driveline components. When did 1 ton commercial vehicles go FWD. It's new to me. Load up the rear and head up a wet hill...should be able to spin those front tires easily. They don't seem to be advertising it as I can't find any mention of it on their site, but pictures don't lie:

2024 Ram ProMaster Cargo Van - Design Features | Ram Canada

The 2024 Ram ProMaster is designed for hardworking people who need a vehicle that works as hard as they do. Explore the various design features of this model here.

www.ramtruck.ca

 

[atikovi]

Would a RWD do much better? How do you think they can have such a high ceiling for big cargo? Lowering the floor. Not all owners of those need to worry about that. They will buy a 4x4 pickup for those situations.

 

[Nick1994]

Yeah I'm wondering if the minivan motor/transmission will hold up.

 

[DuckRyder]

When did 1 ton cargo vans go FWD?​

When RAM Started selling Fiat Ducatos as Ram Promasters.

 

[Motu]

Fiat have been doing it for decades, other Euro maker too now. Very popular for camper vans, there is just free space in the back, do what you want with it. All diesel here of course, no problems with driveline or traction....otherwise they wouldn't do it.

 

[K.Aoi]

A lot of those are available with either RWD or FWD. The Transit can be optioned with RWD, AWD, or FWD for example.

 

[UG_Passat]

A lot of those are available with either RWD or FWD. The Transit can be optioned with RWD, AWD, or FWD for example.

You're confusing the Transit with the Transit Connect, which are on 2 different platforms.

The smaller Transit Connect is FWD only,

whereas the larger Transit, on a different chassis is RWD and AWD

 

[K.Aoi]

In Europe the regular transit is offered in FWD as well, they chose to only offer RWD/AWD in the US

 

[edyvw]

Loooooooooooooong time ago.

 

[edyvw]

Fiat have been doing it for decades, other Euro maker too now. Very popular for camper vans, there is just free space in the back, do what you want with it. All diesel here of course, no problems with driveline or traction....otherwise they wouldn't do it.

I had numerous FWD vans in Europe as delivery vehicles. Also had some RWD. When snow falls on streets built during Ottoman empire or Austro-Hungary Empire and 11-12% grade, FWD actually goes up on snow tires, RWD stays behind regardless of tires.
AWD in these vans is only recently mainstream offer in Europe. There were some before.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Would a RWD do much better? How do you think they can have such a high ceiling for big cargo? Lowering the floor. Not all owners of those need to worry about that. They will buy a 4x4 pickup for those situations.

In the snow, a loaded up Econoline/ Transit RWD / NV2500 / Express will have a lot of weight over the drive wheels and get around great. As we've seen, the promasters ... don't. At least not around here . There's a video on youtube of Portland ( I think) in the snow and a bunch of AWD stuff can't get up the hill and a contractor in an E350 just walks up right past them.

 

[JTK]

Yeah I'm wondering if the minivan motor/transmission will hold up.

We did have a thread here some time back on the ~600K+ mile pentastar that came out of one of these FWD FCA commercial vans. No idea how many super sized 62TEs it went through in that time, but I'd imagine atleast 2.

 

[2EHA]

In Europe the regular transit is offered in FWD as well, they chose to only offer RWD/AWD in the US

FWD vans were encroaching on the territory of the traditionally RWD Transit because it’s not all that tough in the first place.

the full frame Iveco Daily is in a class of its own, has no peers and will never ever go FWD

 

[Zaedock]

Amazon just left in his FWD Promaster.

 

[2EHA]

you can’t do this with a wrong wheel drive van

 

[Hermann]

you can’t do this with a wrong wheel drive van

That will hold a lot of nice square boxes into a nice square space.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

In Europe the regular transit is offered in FWD as well, they chose to only offer RWD/AWD in the US

I always thought that was pretty cool! The same vehicle is offered in Europe with a transverse FWD setup, but in the US it's offered with a longitudinal setup. I do remember reading something from Ford that said their market research didn't show a FWD cargo van would be popular here.

 

[nickaluch]

In the snow, a loaded up Econoline/ Transit RWD / NV2500 / Express will have a lot of weight over the drive wheels and get around great. As we've seen, the promasters ... don't. At least not around here . There's a video on youtube of Portland ( I think) in the snow and a bunch of AWD stuff can't get up the hill and a contractor in an E350 just walks up right past them.

That's what I do with my e450 box truck with a locking rear shift the cargo to the rear for the ride home it's unstoppable

 

[Klarque420]

My company has about 10+ vehicles in our fleet. They consist of Nissan NV200s (FWD 2.0 4cyl CVT), Ford Transit 350HD (RWD 3.5 ecoboost) and Nissan NV2500/3500 (RWD). The FWD NV200 has no guts but is a mule in terms of getting the job done.

 

[tcp71]

I just thought it was interesting as RWD cargo Vans (full size anyway) have been the norm in North America and I can't recall seeing FWD ones until about 6 months ago. Just wondering when the FWD was introduced to North America (or Canada specifically)? Europe/Asia have always had different transport vehicles in all kinds of configurations.