New boss for UK home of Ford Transit

Ford has appointed John Oldham as the new plant manager at its production centre in Southampton, the UK home of the Transit. Prior to the move he was production manager at Ford’s Bridgend, Wales, engine facility, where he began his career with Ford in 1980 as an electrician.

Around 30,000 Transits a year roll off the lines at Southampton, which employs more than 600 staff, and it’s future as one of Ford’s European production centres is guaranteed to include at least the next generation Transit. When it’s introduced, Southampton will cease turning out Transit panel vans which it’s been doing since 1972, concentrating instead on building chassis cab variants. All van production will be taken care of by Ford Otosan in Kocaeli, Turkey, which began building Transits in 2001 and is also responsible for its baby brother, the Connect.

Transit is Ford’s third best selling vehicle in the UK, behind Fiesta and Focus, and commenting on his new appointment Oldham said: “I am excited about joining the great team at Southampton and looking forward to being a part of its future. It is a real privilege to be associated with one of the world’s best known commercial vehicle brands and to work at a plant with such a proud history.”

As luck would have it, as part of its centenary celebrations Ford has been releasing a weekly picture from its extensive archives throughout the year and this week’s gem features Transit; well loads of them actually. Back in 2005 Transit marked its 40th birthday and with the help of the Transit Van Club a convoy of some 60 vehicles drove from Essex to the Southampton plant for a party. The picture shows them crossing the the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge spanning the Thames as part of the south east section of the M25.