This is more important than ever because the new Van.EA platform is designed solely for electric vehicles, but the combustion models of the Mercedes V-Class and the commercial Vito will still be on the well-known platform for a few years. The revised double pack of Mercedes EQV / V-Class and eVito / Vito will come onto the market next spring. The look underscores what CEO Ola Källenius proclaimed: the car models with the star should move up into the luxury segment in the future and the commercial models should always be premium in the tough competitive environment. The first to benefit from this are the new generation of V-Class and Vito, which will continue to be offered with diesel engines, but will be presented as electric versions more than ever. By 2030, electric vans are expected to make up more than 50 percent of both the private and commercial model portfolio. Mercedes Vans has been offering an electric variant of each model for a long time. To date, more than 40,000 battery-electric vans have been sold – no surprise that the eVito is the best-selling model.
After the facelift in the coming year, the proportion of electric sales of the V-Class and the Vito should increase significantly again. “We want to offer the most desirable vans and services and play a pioneering role in e-mobility – from MPVs to camper vans and commercial vans,” says Klaus Rehkugler, Head of Sales and Marketing. “Our new mid-size van models are a further step to accomplish this goal. The more mature luxury positioning of the EQV and V-Class and the sharper premium character of the eVito and Vito will enable us to increase our focus on high-margin regions and sectors.” The Mercedes V-Class is clearly featured at the front and rear new lights and a chrome clasp more noble; On request, it even gets an illuminated radiator grille frame and, for the first time, a Mercedes star on the hood, in order to be able to score even more points in China than before. The modified front with new light units also catches the eye on the eVito and Vito. Hard to understand why for a commercial van like the Vito, which according to Mercedes statements should be clearly positioned in the premium segment, a matter of course such as LED headlights still costs extra.
For many customers, it may be more important that the Vito and eVito instrument panel has been completely revised. While the car versions of the V-Class or the Marco Polo motorhome are on the road with two 12.3-inch screens for instruments and navigation/operation, the Vito and eVito again have to make do with significantly less. Here, however, the driver still looks at two analogue round clocks with a central 5.5-inch small display, which is not very up-to-date. A 10.25-inch central display for navigation and comfort functions is now standard in the middle of the dashboard. Thanks to the MBUX operating system, the Mercedes eVito is now also integrated into the electromobile ecosystem of intelligent navigation with active range management and cloud-based services and apps. It ensures more relaxed driving with planning security because the route is flexibly adjusted at any time with real-time navigation data, range and charging stations.
Regardless of whether the Mercedes V-Class, EQV or Vito and eVito are ordered in the Base, Pro or Select equipment lines, the driver accesses a true luxury steering wheel with touch sliders, which could also come from the current S-Class. The numerous practical storage compartments have remained in all models and, in contrast to the passenger car version of the V-Class, the Vito does without the superfluous touch control surface under the air conditioning controls. This is dispensable if only because the new touchscreen and voice control make this operating legacy unnecessary. More importantly, for the first time, an electric tailgate is available for the Mercedes Vito / eVito Tourer and Mixto models for significantly more convenient loading and unloading. And all commercial customers can be happy that at least all models with automatic transmission have a modern electric parking brake on board. The safety equipment will also be improved with the facelift in the coming year. All Mercedes Vito and eVito are equipped with the attention assistant, automatic headlights including rain sensor, cruise control, active brake assistant with intersection function, blind spot / lane keeping and speed assistant as well as reversing camera.
The payload of commercial mid-size vans has not changed. With a gross vehicle weight of up to 3.2 tonnes and a payload of almost 1,400 kilograms, the Vito panel van is the giant in its class. The eVito panel van offers a maximum loading volume of 6.6 cubic meters and a maximum payload of up to around 1,000 kilograms. According to the current status, hardly anything fundamental will change in the drives. The familiar two-liter diesels between 75 kW / 102 PS and 140 kW / 190 PS remain in the Vito range, as do the electric drives from the Mercedes eVito and the EQV. So they also keep its obligatory front-wheel drive and the well-known battery pack. The new platform Van.EA, which will also offer rear-wheel and all-wheel drive as well as different battery sizes with a significant increase in range, offers the big leap in terms of electrification.
