Cars

Interview: Amko Leenarts on SuperVans, SUVs and the return of aero design

By 2022-07-06T15:36:00

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Car Design News caught up with Ford’s design director of Europe Amko Leenarts at Goodwood to discuss the SuperVans project, the return of aero design and why the era of the SUV might be over

“This is the fastest workhorse in the world,” said a mildly breathless Amko Leenarts at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed. Ford’s design director of Europe had just experienced first-hand the velocity of the OEM’s SuperVans project, taking on the famous Goodwood Hillclimb with an eerie silence that belied its 2000ps output. It was fair to say that much like his van, he was buzzing.

“It was completely weird. All the senses you use to position yourself, the sound of the engine as you go faster and faster…there’s nothing. It becomes a blur,” he said.

Ford has a history of producing rapid vans. Such was the pace of the Ford Transit; it became the preferred choice of the criminal fraternity who needed a speedy getaway from the arm of John Law. However, the pace of SuperVan, which Leenarts explains is an exaggerated version of the E-Transit Custom van unveiled in Barcelona earlier in 2022 is rivalled only by the rapidity of the design development.

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