Mercedes Benz May Bring Next Gen RWD V-Class Minivan to U.S.

TTAC Staff
by TTAC Staff

Though the company is officially mum on the topic, sources within Mercedes-Benz tell Automotive News that it may sell the next generation of its V-Class European passenger van (sold as the Viano in some markets) and Vito commercial van in the United States. The new trucks go on sale in Europe next year and could arrive in the States the following year. If it were to be sold here, it would be the only rear wheel drive competitor in a segment that includes the Chrysler Town & Country, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest and Toyota Sienna. It’s also a bit larger than a U.S. market minivan.

The Vito, which is smaller than Mercedes’ Sprinter commercial van, would compete with the Ford Transit and the Nissan NV 200, which is also being marketed as the Chevrolet City Express.

The V-Class and Vito share a platform, and both will be offered with all wheel drive. Four or six cylinder engines will be available. The new van and will have a more carlike and luxurious interior than the outgoing model, with features like wood decor, ambient lighting, advanced electronics and a panoramic glass roof.

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  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Nov 13, 2013

    If it doesn't take too much for federalization, they might as well bring it here. A few women will buy them here, if they want to impress the neighbors when they pull up at some local establishment. I feel this would do better in Canada than the US. They like different Merc products, B-Class and whatnot. Plus didn't Derek say the R-Class did well there?

  • Rod Panhard Rod Panhard on Nov 13, 2013

    The write-up on the Viano on Wikipedia is brief. What it does mention is that this product is available with all-wheel-drive. An all-wheel-drive small commercial van could be interesting. An all-wheel-drive MPV that's the size of a Mazda 5 could be interesting. I'm not sure how big the appeal of all that would be, but given that a lot of people I know with degrees from hot shot schools are convinced they need all-wheel-drive 365 days are appropriate for those seven or eight days it snows but the plows clear it out before lunch.... Yeah. Mercedes-Benz can sell this, er, lease it around here....

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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