From the land that gave us Turkish baths, Turkish towels and Turkish taffy now comes word that the Ford Transit Connect van will be coming to North America in 2009.

Turkish vehicle maker Ford Otosan will produce the vehicles. Ford Otosan is a joint venture of the Ford Motor Co. and Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding KCHOL.IS.

Ford obviously stands for Ford; Otosan is the name of the Turkish automotive company in the venture. Pretty straightforward name. Otosan is the abbreviation for Otomobil Sanayi which translates to "Automotive Industry."

The Ford Connect is a popular mini cargo van oversees. It is a smaller tall roofed front wheel drive vehicle.

At 6'8" tall, the Transit Connect easily fits in a garage, but the low floor provides lots of room for racks of tools, parts or whatever else the owner might need to haul around.

It will be available with either just two front seats or with an additional second row bench seat for three. The two seater Connect has 143 cubic ft. of storage space that is easily accessible from either of the two sliding doors or the 180o fold out rear doors.

The van will be powered with a 2.0L four cylinder gas engine. The European version runs on diesel.

A great globalized vehicle coming to America. Perfect for small business owners.

No price announced.