Thirty years after the first Sprinter came to market, the fourth generation of Mercedes’ popular van is almost ready to hit the stage. As a small preview of its design, Mercedes has unveiled The BOuLDER, a sculpture that shows the fourth-generation van breaking out of its rocky shell.
Exactly when Mercedes will unveil its newest Sprinter, we don’t know yet. What we do know is that the largest of Mercedes’ van range will be built on the new VAN architecture, which supports both electric and combustion drivetrains. The first model on this new platform will be the electric VLE, coming in 2026. Therefore, the new Sprinter won’t be here before next year at the earliest.
More modern nose to suit the family resemblance
Looking at the 650 x 250 x 275 cm sculpture, we can see some hints regarding the next-generation Sprinter’s design. Of course, a van’s shape is mainly dictated by the need to maximize interior space, but Mercedes’ designers have been given some freedom to shape the front fascia to make the new Sprinter fit the rest of the model range.
We can see wider headlamps that connect to the grille, along with a typical ‘L2H2’ body shape common to Sprinters. But Mercedes emphasizes that the new Sprinter will support “a variety of drive systems and numerous length, wheelbase and weight variants”. Different body conversions will also be part of the menu, as is needed for many specialized applications.
Diesel and electric options
The “variety of drive systems” hints at the availability of both diesel and electric drivetrains, which are already available in the Mercedes Sprinter. The current-generation model is available with batteries of up to 113 kWh, providing up to 400 km of WLTP range. We can expect the range and charging speeds to increase significantly with the VAN.EA architecture supports 800V batteries.
New MB.OS software
The next-gen Mercedes Sprinter (and also the smaller Vito and its passenger versions VLE and VLS) will be equipped with the new Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS), which debuted on the all-electric Mercedes CLA earlier this year.
This software stack offers over-the-air updates for core vehicle systems and the option to pay for optional extras after vehicle purchase. Fleet owners will be happy to see a more comprehensive vehicle monitoring system that can integrate directly into the central display.
