DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. has canceled plans to add a diesel engine option to its Transit Connect small van in the U.S., citing lack of demand.
The automaker had made the new 1.5-liter EcoBlue diesel, available on vehicles overseas, a highlight of the freshened 2019 cargo and wagon versions of the Transit Connect. It was to have gone on sale last fall but never materialized.
The engine would have been sourced from the company's Dagenham Engine Plant in England, although the location was not a factor in its decision, a spokeswoman said. The plant will still produce those engines for other Ford vehicles.
Ford last year touted the engine's fuel economy, saying it expected to get 30 mpg in highway driving.
A spokeswoman last week noted the vehicle's 2.0-liter gasoline engine gets best-in-class highway and combined fuel-economy ratings, and the highest overall fuel-economy ratings among small vans in the U.S.
It's rated at 24 mpg city, 29 highway and 26 combined.
Ford also said it was scrapping the short-wheelbase version of the Transit Connect Wagon.
The news was first reported by Car and Driver.
