When Ford showed off its new Transit Custom van toward the end of last year ... basically a fold-out center console table and stow-away gear selector. U.S. drivers using the Interior Work Surface ...

This is state-of-the-art EV van engineering – complete with sporty handling and an excellent ride – yet it maintains all the usual Transit attributes ... great storage under the floating centre ...

What makes it different to the Transit Custom? Ford South Africa launched the updated Transit Custom last year in June in only one model, the Base Long Wheelbase Van. The Sport model is short ...

Taking the latter into consideration sees the Puma drop a notch to second behind the Ford Transit range ... and finished the centre console in an un-van-like shade of less than adequate piano ...

The well-designed centre console offers another two bottle holders plus large internal storage, which is capped by a hinged lid that multi-tasks as a shallow storage tray and handy work desk.

The first is that what we have here is a Transit Custom – the best-selling size ... Ford has not only kept the PHEV’s centre of gravity down, but it’s also kept a maximum payload of 1,130kg.

After initially unveiling the pair a few months ago, the high-tech nine-seat Tourneo Custom people hauler and the one-ton Transit Custom panel van workhorse are launching on the Old Continent ...