Ford Econoline Vans are no more

[Hawkeye]

I was tying to find some seat covers for our new Chateau, and thought, that will be easy, I will just search for Ford E350 and E450 vans. But I kept coming up dry on 2016 model years. Did some more research and discovered that Ford discontinued the vans in 2015 and wants folks to buy Transits. They are still making and selling the stripped chassis version, but there seems to be some thought they will discontinue that. I would think there is lot of market for the chassis version, between buses, ambulances and RVs....

[JamieGeek]

When they discontinued the vans Ford did state that eventually the stripped chassis will go away (you can get stripped chassis Transits--hence the Gemini line, etc.).

I don't think they are going away any time soon though.

[nosticks]

Research faulty on the discontinuation of 350-450.

[Chance]

According to a statement a Ford executive made to RV industry recently, the Econoline is the highest volume RV chassis. Most are Cutaway chassis, for Class Cs, with a few being the stripped chassis (as far as I know presently used only for Axis and Vegas).

If Ford planned to eliminate the E-Series any day, I doubt they would have gone to expense of upgrading to 6.2L V8.

Another fact to consider is that while the E-Series is indeed very old, motorhome demand has shifted significantly from Class As to Class Cs, which are enjoying a higher growth rate.

Ford is no doubt pushing the lighter-duty Transit as a replacement, but in my opinion the much lower weight carrying capacity will limit demand. The lower GCWR doesn't help the Transit either.

[blw2]

side note...but about the seat covers...
I'm pretty sure the seats are Thor aftermarket, not by ford...so E-series covers might not be the best fit....
I would be very interested if you find something that is a good fit though. I've looked, but not too seriously yet. I would like to get something eventually.