These are the first official sketches of Mercedes-Benz's all-new Citan, which the German automaker describes as an 'urban delivery van'. The Citan will make its world premiere at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover this September and go on sale before the end of the year.
In spite of the fact that Mercedes-Benz does not mention it in its press release, the automaker had previously revealed that the small van was developed in partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance as part of their strategic collaboration, which includes several more projects such as the Twingo/Smart platform and powertrain cross-supply.
The Citan broadens Mercedes-Benz's offerings in in the lower weight classes of the van market, which include the Vito (2.77 to 3.2 tons), Sprinter (3.0 to 5.0 tons) and Vario (6.0 to 8.2 tons).
The German company said that the small van segment has picked up in sales these past couple of decades and has now grown to around 700,000 units in Europe alone. It added that it plans to gain a market share of four to five percent in this segment with the Citan, which equals to 28,000 to 35,000 units a year in Europe.
“We will take advantage of the trend toward city vans, which our brand will be able to exploit thanks to its attractively priced vehicles and the high quality of our products and services,” said Mercedes-Benz Vans boss, Volker Mornhinweg.
The Citan will be offered in many configurations including panel van, crew bus and Mixto (passenger version) in various lengths and weight categories.
Mercedes has not yet revealed specific details on the engine lineup, but it said that the Citan will be offered with a broad range of low-emission, fuel-efficient diesel and gasoline engines along with a BlueEFFICIENCY package, adding that a pure electric drive version is also being planned for the near future.
5 Comments:
i.e. this'll be a kangoo with a three-pointed-star in front. Can't see much to get excited about, really...
What makes a Mercedes a Mercedes? The engineering and the quality.
About engineering, Renault it's really good. About quality, it depends on the final price of the car.
ex. who makes the the dashboards for Mercedes it's an out side company, with is own engineering (normally Faurecia). So, if the target price it's low, you pay less for the quality of the materials...
The Mercedes will be more expensive than the Renault/Nissan, because will have better quality in the end.
The final consumer will decide what is the best for is pocket!!!
For the car design, i like it allot! Really nice front! it's aggressive and it's a van!!!
I agree with Markey, it'll be a Kangoo with a Merc badge. Yawn.
that is insulting to everything MB is/was.
the kangoo is surely one of the nicer small vans out there, especially the passenger-versions are comfy once inside, but:
if i give away a ton of my hard-earned bucks for a Merc, i want it to be one or at least no resemble a Renault van, let alone take it's windsreen/roofline/backdoors without any adaption.
whoever thought that was a good idea is intellectually challenged
I like this car. It is very compact and flexible. Its color and design is super and attractive.
Vans for
Sale
Post a Comment