Ford shows new stretch Transit Connect 7-seat minivan

• A bit smaller than other minivans
• Based on Ford European vehicle
• Better fuel efficiency than the bigger rivals

LOS ANGELES -- Ford Motor will re-enter the family van market when it starts selling the 2014 Transit Connect decked out as a people mover.

It'll be different from rivals because it's a bit smaller. "About the size of the originals," Raj Nair, head of product development at Ford, said during an interview at the Los Angeles auto show. Not a mini-minivan, like the Mazda5, but hardly the hulk that the rest of today's people vans are.

Story:Ford gets back into minivan market

The originals were the first Chrysler minivans in the mid-1980s that were based on mid-size car chassis. Today's crop of minivans, by contrast, are hardly mini, having about the same footprint as a full-size pickup.

Transit Connect was launched in the U.S. in June 2009 as a commercial van, and has been adopted by small businesses that need space, but don't want the price, fuel use and unwieldiness of a full-size van. That version offered a second-row seat for taxi use and other short-haul passenger tasks, but the 2014 version is a full-fledged passenger model inside.

It'll test whether folks really are looking for a bit less in a van; easier to park, easier on fuel. If so, Ford owns the space because there are no others, nor any imminent. If it's a bust, Ford falls alone.

Thing is, Ford has so many products rolling out these days, the Transit Connect people van might get buried in the publicity for those other cars and trucks.

"That's a concern. I wish we could say more about it" to promote the vehicle, Nair says.