At the Hanover Commercial Vehicle exhibition, the Ford Transit Custom was given the award of international van of the year 2013.
It scored 117 out of 133 for a panel of 24 journalists. The win was a emphatic one, with second place Dacia Dokker and third place Mercedes Benz Citan not scoring between them as many points as the Ford.
This is a regular accolade for Ford, in 2001 they won with the Transit, in 2003 with the Connect and again with the Transit in 2007.
The new Custom is due to be released in most European markets during the next few months.
Ford have done significant work with the seats and steering column to get to enable anyone to get comfortable. The seats have built in armrests and it is hoped that they will offer car comfort. As normal for Ford, ergonomics and storage space have been handled professionally, with up 90 litres of storage below the twin seat. . 
Fords SYNC voice control system can control your phone and your music. Shout out Call and the name of a contact and bingo, your connected. The system is set up to read out your text messages as well. For the music fans, the system lets you control USB and MP3 music and even music from your phone.
A target of Ford was to give the new Custom a turning circle of 11m. They managed 10.9m, making it a great unit for built up areas.
In a built up area, you will find the rear camera really useful. The screen is built into the rear view mirror. Combined with rear parking sensors, using a rising audible rate, parking has never been easier. Ford have also added hill start assist a system with applies 2.5 seconds of brake pressure to move your foot from brake pedal to your accelerator.
Ford have designed a roof rack that folds flat when not being used, it saves bolting on and taking off and is less noisy when not in used. The interior design is superb, the load length is among the longest and the side opening door is wide. Ford have also designed a floor covering that saves you lining it and is easy to slide goods on.
Inside the storage area, there is a option of bright, LED lighting, in the Winter months this will be invaluable. The load area can be specified with a panel that allows loading through to under the passenger seats. This makes it possible to load up to 3m long items
