Ford creates stretched Transit XXL

17 January 2007 17:08 GMT / By Jonathan Goddard

On the scale of uselessness, a limousine van would rate pretty high. None the less, Ford’s Commercial Vehicle development team has created an unusual one-off – the Transit XXL.

Using "off-the-shelf" Ford Transit components throughout, the XXL is based on two short wheelbase Transit Tourneo models which have been joined together to deliver a bespoke limo that carries the driver plus seven illegal migrant workers in full VIP comfort.

Measuring 7.4m in length and with a wheelbase of 5.9m, it’s huge and surprisingly good looking. It also has four full sliding doors – two on each side – while the entire vehicle benefits from privacy glass. It has a floor-to-roof carpeted bulkhead behind the rearmost pair of seats, which creates a separate luggage compartment accessible through the tailgate-style rear door.

Power is from a standard 2.2-litre, turbodiesel, but to cope with the extra girth, the XXL gets a specially adapted five-speed gearbox and the braking system has been upgraded with self-adjusting, servo-assisted front and rear discs.

Pointless but I want one. The sort of thing any self-disrespecting Lotto winner would adore.