The company behind Wales’s newest production car is on the verge of launching what it claims is “the only commercially viable diesel hybrid system in the world” for vans.

Connaught Engineering, which is based at Llanelli, will unveil its Ford Transit hybrid at the Commercial Vehicle Show in the NEC in April. A version for a 2.2m wheelbase Transit will be available later in the summer.

"Over 100,000 miles, each vehicle will save 10 tonnes of CO2," says Tony Martindale, Connaught Engineering’s chief executive, who expects home delivery operators to figure highly amongst customers for the system, which takes about four hours to fit and involves no changes to the vehicle.

The company is establishing a network of fitting centres around the country to do the work for owners of existing Transit models and research suggests there are tens of thousands of potential vehicles which would benefit from the system.

No firm figures have been given for the conversion but it is likely to be highly competitive when total running costs are taken into account.

The commercial vehicle system is a spin-off from the one developed for use on Connaught’s forthcoming hybrid-electric sports car which will follow the launch of a petrol version towards the end of this year.