It’s not just celebrities that get papped – future vehicles are often targeted by sneaky automotive paparazzi as well. And although these spy photographers usually concentrate on cars, upcoming vans can often be found in the same secret test locations.
Which is how we’ve ended up with spyshots of what appears to be a facelifted Ford Tourneo Courier.
That’s a version of the Ford Transit Courier, right?
The Tourneo Courier is the passenger-carrying version of the Transit Courier van. Introduced in 2014 at the same time as Ford’s smallest dedicated van, this has never been sold in the UK due a lack of demand for such compact, basic MPVs here.
But apparently it’s proving popular enough on the continent for Ford to be working on some kind of upgrade. This probably means there are changes in the works for the Transit Courier van as well.
What’s new in the spy photos?
Confusingly, not a great deal. The Courier was snapped at a petrol station in Sweden – a country popular with carmakers for cold-weather testing at this time of year – wearing a camouflaged covering over its front bumper, bonnet and wings.
However, ignore the swirly pattern and there’s not much that’s obviously different about those areas compared to the current vehicle.
Is the Ford Courier getting an update or not?
Oh, absolutely – we’re expecting to see the result in 2018. The lack of clear visual differences could be due to most of those updates being under the skin, perhaps to the suspension or the interior.
But if that is the case it seems odd that Ford would bother to apply typical prototype camouflage. Perhaps the visual changes are therefore just too small to spot at this stage.
Our spy photographers do have an alternative suggestion. They reckon it’s possible that Ford is just messing with them – rolling out a disguised model with current bodywork in the hope that the snappers won’t notice when a more comprehensively modified vehicle appears later on.
Read the full Ford Transit Courier review on Parkers Vans
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