Two ways: either just build a better ship design in the shipyard and then declare the old version "obsolete", or build a better design and then use the Upgrade option when the old ship is selected, which will give you the option of upgrading it to the new type (providing the hull sizes match).
You can use Upgrade from the shipyard on ships you design yourself & then tweak them any way you like--but you can not do this to the base models, which are set in stone. So the best idea concerning them is simply not to build any; replace them with your own ships and declare them obsolete right off (but be sure to hit No when it asks if you want to decommission your original transport).
I build new ship designs on the very first turn, as many people do, because you can get faster transports and scouts immediately by adding even hyperdrive or ion drives to the base models.