Ford is showing off its next generation Ford Transit van based Tourneo Custom in Europe. This new passenger van aimed at consumers across the pond gives us the first look at what the replacement for our Ford Econoline vans here in the States will look like.

Ford has already announced that next year the aged old Econoline van who’s roots are still firmly planted in the 1970′s will be replaced by the next generation Transit Van. In Europe the Transit is available in two versions, a light duty front-wheel drive model and a heavy duty rear-wheel drive configuration.

Ford has said that we will not get the lighter duty version shown here, but rather only the heavier duty line that will share much of the same styling as the European Tourneo Custom. The van has clean modern lines that share Ford’s new global design language.

The interior is modern too, losing the intrusive engine hump that has been the bane of drivers behind the wheel of Econoline for nearly half a century. Instead a modern dash looks almost lifted right out of a Fiesta or Focus and scaled up.

Ford will offer both commercial cargo and passenger version of the Transit Van in the States. We will likely see both a low and high roof option as well as short and long wheelbase versions to. It will compete directly head to head with the Mercedes Sprinter van which has become increasingly popular with fleets.

While the Transit is offered with a variety of small diesel engines in Europe, we will likely not see one of them available here, at least at launch time. Ford has already announced the Transit will be available with the same 3.5 liter EcoBoost engine that’s optional in the F-150. A naturally aspirated 3.7 liter V6 is also likely to be standard.