FORD may live to regret ditching the legendary Escort van in favour of the chunky new Transit Connect – no sooner had the Ford announcement been made than Citroen revealed it was launching the Enterprise in a bid to scoop up those Ford drivers who wanted something more car-like.

The thinking is simple. Citroen believes there are many fleet drivers who are given vans as part of their jobs but who would really rather be driving cars – photocopier engineers, computer salesman and the like – and while they may just about accept Escort van with a few grumbles, they would baulk at Transit Connect, which looks more like a scaled down Ford Transit.

The Enterprise is simply a Citroen Xsara with the rear seats and seatbelts removed, rear windows blacked out and a load tray bolted into the back. Hence drivers could fool the world into thinking they are driving cars.

Roskell said: 'We previewed the van at the Birmingham Motor Show and the response was amazing. We are quietly confident of success.'

The Enterprise comes in one guise only – with a 2.0-litre HDi common rail diesel engine under the bonnet offering 90bhp, and standard equipment including driver, passenger and lateral airbags, ABS brakes, power steering and toughened Pentagon glass in the rear. Colour is white or metallic silver.

Load capacity is 1.5 cubic metres and payload is 511kg.

Warranty is either three years/100,000 miles or two years/unlimited mileage and price is £10,995 ex-VAT.