As any self employed tradesman, delivery driver and bank robber will tell you, there's nothing quite like a Ford Transit for moving a room full of stuff round the country quickly.

The Blue Oval brand is particularly proud of its iconic van, and has repeatedly embellished its 'road warrior' image with souped up, one-off editions. The latest, dubbed SuperSportVan, was unveiled at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham today.

Unlike previous incarnations, which have twinned the Transit with petrol V8s, Ford has this time opted instead to simply mate its biggest ever diesel engine with the shortest wheelbase version of the current model.



The 197bhp 3.2-litre Duratorq engine is normally only found on the largest Transits, but Ford's engineers have shoehorned the five-cylinder lump into the standard SportVan to give it 346 lb ft of torque-laden performance.

Aside from the engine, the show special shares the Le Mans-style bonnet stripes, twin exhausts, alloy wheels, low profile tyres, front and rear lower spoilers, side skirts and extended wheel arches already featured on the more modest SportVan.

Steve Clary, UK commercial vehicles director, explained: 'We wanted to add some contemporary fun and also showcase our engineers' skill and enthusiasm. SuperSportVan demonstrates just how far you can go with a white Transit van by mixing and matching regular technology in a different way.'