Mercedes-Benz reveals new Sprinter (sort of)

Playing on the ‘rock-solid’ reputation of its Sprinter van, Mercedes-Benz has given us a glimpse of the next generation of its iconic commercial vehicle through a stone-look sculpture. ‘The Boulder’, as this art piece is titled, gives us the first hints of a major reinvention of the Sprinter large van including a new-look front end that appears to be more truck-like and a far more boxy cargo space.
We were taken into a no-cameras secret room to see a proper concept build of the new van, which confirmed a more boxy look for the future. The interior concept was very interesting with a modern design packing screens, futuristic cooling vents and storage cubbies. Although a concept build is just that, and it’s hard to say what will actually be integrated into the final model.

Since the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in 1995, over five million have been produced over three decades in different variants. The next generation, therefore, has quite a legacy to live up to. But don’t be fooled by the sculpture seemingly not giving a lot away, there’s actually a few nuggets to take away and digest.

Really, this sculpture is about launching a new van platform with the architecture we glimpsed set to form the basis of all newly developed medium-sized and large Mercedes-Benz vans in the future. But what can we actually see in it?
We can see that the front end will look less sloped and more snub-nosed like a truck, the grill looks similar to the one on Mercedes-Benz's electric cars, the height of the van looks set to remain pleasingly high, and the cargo area will be more boxy with the back-end featuring what look like exposed door hinges. Beyond that, there’s little else to go on aside from confirmation that the new platform will see the new Sprinter, VLE and VLS vans built on it. The concept van in the secret room confirmed some of the design hints seen in the sculpture, including a more blunt front end, boxy cargo space and exposed hinges on the back doors.

In 2026, the fully electric models of the Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA) will be introduced with the new VLE set to be the first model built on it. Electric commercial vehicles using the new platform will follow later. The second version of the VAN architecture – Van Combustion Architecture (VAN.CA) – will seat combustion engines and be used for private and commercial vehicles.

The next Sprinter will be available with a variety of drive systems and in multiple length, wheelbase and weight configurations. It will continue to serve a range of businesses from couriers and parcel services, right through to flatbed vehicles for construction sites and passenger transport for people with limited mobility, and camper vans. It will also feature the company’s new Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS)

The next generation of vans will run entirely on the company’s own Mercedes-Benz Operating System. This new system will see “the integration of chip-to-cloud architecture into the vehicle allowing all actuators and sensors to be precisely controlled and enhance the driving experience as well as the intelligent integration of vehicle functions into the user interface”, as the press information put it. Essentially, it controls everything, going several steps beyond MBUX to the point where AI support will connect every van to the Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Cloud. It will offer great peace of mind to drivers through over-the-air updates and enhancements, including, For example, if a component stops working, the van will tell the cloud to order a replacement part and then tell you where to get it fitted. Nice.

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