More evidence (as if evidence were needed) that the quality and flexibility of European vans is making its mark across the pond.

US car magazine Winding Road has just voted the Dodge Sprinter (a rebadged version of the Mercedes Sprinter) to be one of their ‘Dynamic Dozen’ – their reviewers’ 12 favourite vehicles of 2008.

The other eleven are a diverse mixture of cars but the Sprinter makes it into the top 12 too. Winding Road’s Steven J. Ewing says that “we’re hard pressed to think of things the Sprinter can’t do” and describes it as “easy to live with”, “quite fun to drive” and “versatile”.

Ford is hoping to eclipse the success of the Sprinter when it introduces the Transit Connect to the US market later this year. To try and raise awareness of and desire for its capacious, car-sized van, Ford has given away five Connects to small business owners in the US.

The businesses selected include a CPR instructor, dog car company and a kayak company. It will be interesting to see if the Transit Connect takes off in the US – it is a great van, but it is small by American standards and unfortunately won’t benefit from the torquey, modern diesels we get in Europe (thanks to US emissions standards for diesels).

On a completely unrelated but still transatlantic note, it seems that in America, car companies get fined for not meeting fuel efficiency targets. Under CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) rules, financial penalties result if you sell too many gas guzzlers.

2007 saw Mercedes receive a whopping $30m fine, while Volkswagen was fined $4.5m and Porsche $1.2m. Ouch. Although I suppose it isn’t a huge amount when offset against their profits (or motorsport budgets…).