The Ford Supervan Is Coming Back as a Track-Slaying EV
Even though it won’t have a V8, it’ll likely be the wildest Supervan yet.
With the Goodwood Festival of Speed kicking off on Thursday, its estimated 210,000 visitors are readying themselves for one hell of a backyard party. And in typical Goodwood fashion, quite a few new cars will make their debut there. One impending reveal that has our interests particularly piqued is the return of one of Ford's most bizarre and beloved contraptions to ever hit the pavement: the Supervan.
Earlier this month, Ford teased that "something electrifying" was headed to Goodwood. Pun aside, the teaser video ends with a glimpse of what appeared to be the rear of a Transit van. It wasn't until now that Ford Europe's Director of Product Communications Jay Ward confirmed on Twitter that the Supervan nameplate is being revived at Goodwood with an electric powertrain.
Now, we have no idea what to expect with this upcoming Supervan—other than it being electrified, of course. However, if the past has taught us anything, it's to expect something pretty extreme.
It's likely that the Supervan will be based on the E-Transit Custom, which Ford revealed just last month in its entirety. The E-Transit custom is sold under the Ford Pro commercial unit, which can be seen on the helmet in the teaser video alongside the Ford Performance name. It also wouldn't surprise us if Ford used two of its 281-horsepower Eluminator electric crate motors to complete the job. Plucked straight from the Mustang Mach-E GT, these compact crate motors have been used by Ford in performance builds before, including a classic F-100 pickup.
But again, Ford has yet to reveal any official details, so we'll know more once the next-gen Supervan makes its way up the Goodwood hill climb.
Believe it or not, this will be the fourth iteration of the Supervan. The first was built in 1971 when Ford's engineers plopped an original Transit body on a GT40 chassis. Mounted in the rear was a 5.0-liter V8 that made a whopping 435 horsepower—quite a step up from its factory peak of just 75 ponies.
The Supervan returned in 1984, built from the second-generation Transit with a mighty powerful Cosworth DFL V8. And finally, the "Supervan 3" debuted in 1994 to show off the third-generation Transit with a Cosworth HB V8. These were unique from the first one as they both had high-revving powerplants with smaller displacements. Regardless, they've all been undeniably cool.
Given that the EV business is such an important part of Ford's future, it will undoubtedly do it big this time around to make a lasting impression. And after all, we're overdue for an obnoxiously overpowered van on a racetrack, aren't we?
