Genuinely one in every of my favourite issues about touring to Europe is attending to experience in Mercedes-Benz V-Class vans. The V-Class is the passenger model of the Metris industrial van we get within the U.S., and they’re severely luxurious. Some variations have a rear-facing second row of seats that makes conversing with your pals simple whereas others have fancy captain’s chairs, and the V-Class has all the posh options you’d anticipate from a Benz. They’re manner higher to experience in than one thing like an Escalade or a typical luxurious sedan, particularly if you happen to’re with a gaggle of individuals. Fortunately, the U.S. will lastly get the V-Class with the totally electrical next-generation mannequin, which Mercedes is now teasing for the primary time.
The following V-Class will use Mercedes’ new VAN.EA platform, a modular electrical structure that can underpin each new Mercedes van, each industrial and passenger fashions. The V-Class would be the first one to debut in 2026, although its Metris (or Vito in Europe) sibling will doubtless be revealed alongside it or comply with quickly after. Because the VAN.EA platform is “versatile and scalable,” it’ll be used for the smaller Citan and T-Class and the massive and vastly fashionable Sprinter fashions, too. Each front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive will probably be provided.
Mercedes launched a handful of images of a camouflaged V-Class prototype, and it appears like, effectively, a van, albeit a sleeker and brisker one. The window glazing appears extra flush than the present V-Class, and it has different options like an built-in spoiler, pop-out door handles and easy underbody to eke out probably the most vary. We are able to see that the V-Class may have an enormous grille like the just lately facelifted V-Class and EQV, and hopefully it’ll be provided with Mercedes’ standing star hood decoration like these fashions too.
The VAN.EA platform will “enable for a transparent distinction between privately positioned vans within the luxurious section and industrial vans throughout the premium section,” in line with Mercedes, with the previous class together with “VIP shuttles to luxurious and spacious limousines tailor-made for purchasers with the best calls for.” Not solely will there nonetheless be an expensive V-Class mannequin that’s completely suited to be a high-end taxi, resort shuttle or household car, however Mercedes will lastly be making a Maybach mannequin from the manufacturing unit.
Aftermarket fake Maybach conversions for Metrises and V-Courses have changing into more and more fashionable in recent times, particularly within the U.S., and Mercedes is seeking to money in on that demand. Hell, Kim Kardashian owns one! Earlier this 12 months on the eSprinter drive occasion I chatted with an exec from Benz’s vans division who mentioned the aim isn’t to take advantage of luxurious van potential, however probably the most luxurious car, interval. The van form will enable designers and engineers to actually maximize the quantity of lounge area, much more so than what you get in a Maybach S-Class or GLS. Such ultra-luxury vans have develop into mega fashionable in China, the place some even have partitions with large TV screens and lodging that rival the most effective non-public jets.
Earlier this summer time Mercedes took a specifically constructed prototype from Stuttgart to the North Cape to check the VAN.EA’s battery, chassis and powertrain. Present street testing is specializing in “the interplay of all elements throughout the car,” and subsequent up will probably be winter testing in Sweden. Mercedes hasn’t mentioned precisely when the V-Class will debut, solely that it is going to be popping out in 2026, so a reveal might occur in some unspecified time in the future subsequent 12 months.
