Mercedes-Benz Vans is working on future digitization and urbanization tech for commercial vans under its adVANce development initiative. (Image: Mercedes-Benz Vans)That initiative targets future digitalization and urbanization technologies in transforming mere "vans" and "vehicles" to segment-specific "mobility solutions." Mercedes-Benz Vans explained that adVANce could include things like automated cargo loading and unloading systems — perhaps even incorporating wheeled helper robots, from the looks of a few illustrations released last fall.
Also part of adVANce is a forward-looking take on mobile service and service contractor vans. M-B Vans said it's working on "intelligent" parts management systems that would allow automated reordering and delivery of items directly from and to the van itself.
Future production
Beyond the appearance refresh and additional technology injection, the company pointed to more economical Sprinter production on the way for the North American market.
Mercedes-Benz Vans is building a new plant that will produce Sprinters in North Charleston, SC, and once that facility is finished, it will reduce costs and delivery times to market. For now, though, Sprinters are built in Germany, and the ones destined for this market are partly dismantled in order to avoid import tariffs.
They're then reassembled at Mercedes-Benz Vans' smaller existing facility in North Charleston when they arrive on these shores. That will continue, the OEM said, and the new Sprinter will be built at the Mercedes-Benz's Dusseldorf and Ludwigsfelde facilities in Germany — at least for the near future. The new Sprinter plant in North Charleston is expected to be completed before the end of this decade.
In the meantime, the current Sprinter van has marked a new milestone. Some 96,200 units were sold around the globe during the first half of 2017, topping the prior record of 95,100 for the first half of 2016, M-B Vans said.
