Here’s Your First Look at the Next Mercedes Sprinter

Commercial vans might not be cool in the same way that a powerful, luxurious grand tourer is, but they’re an important part of a lot of people’s lives. Whether you need to transport work equipment, operate a mobile office, or carry a large group of people, commercial vans are about as practical a solution as it gets. And one of the biggest names in the commercial van business, the Mercedes Sprinter, is about to get a redesign.

Mercedes released this teaser image today, giving us a good idea of what the next Sprinter will look like. As you can see, the biggest design changes are on the front end. The Sprinter now gets thin, horizontal headlights, as well as several other touches from Mercedes’ corporate design language. But while Mercedes may want to draw attention to the Sprinter’s “distinctive” and “athletic” look, the different configurations will probably be much more important to potential buyers. And in that regard, Mercedes promises a “considerably extended range of variants.” Expect to also see a lot more in-van technology, like newly introduced driver’s assistance systems.

“We want to do more than just build the best vehicles. We want to offer the most suitable mobility solution for every sector and for every transport assignment. And that is precisely our focus with the upcoming Sprinter generation as an overall system solution,” said Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. “It also goes without saying that the new edition of our iconic van possesses the classical attributes of reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness.”

The biggest news, though, might be the factory that Mercedes is building in the North Charleston, South Carolina, area. Instead of building U.S. Sprinters in Germany, partially disassembling them to avoid the import tariff, and then reassembling them once they’re stateside, Mercedes will now be able to build Sprinters here in the good ole U.S. of A.

Look for the redesigned Sprinter to go on sale in Europe early next year, with other markets getting it later in the year.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

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