One of the interesting things about Mercedes-Benz’s revamped 2014 model year Sprinter van is how “hauling cargo” remains the primary function envisioned for this vehicle – with said function thus driving many of the design changes made to what the OEM dubs the “third generation” of its hard-working van platform.
Claus Tritt, general manager of commercial vehicles for Mercedes, touched on such themes during his overview of the new Sprinter, as you can see in the video clip below:
Perhaps the biggest change to the new Sprinter is a new standard 4-cylinder diesel engine mated to a 7-speed automatic gearbox.
That change, though, created “ripple effects” within the vehicle’s powertain as the rear axles and other components needed to be upgraded as part of the engine/transmission upgrade – something the Mercedes engineer delves into below:
One neat moment of the Sprinter event came in the form of a special 3D “design by light” display, whereby the Sprinter’s chief designer used a light pen and table to illustrate some of the exterior changes to the van's grille and headlamps:
We’ll start seeing the new Sprinter in the U.S. starting this September. That’s when we’ll see what the fleet community in this country thinks about this new van.
