Mercedes-Benz has released the first teaser images of its all-new van family that will be introduced to the world from 2026 onwards.
The German carmaker says that all newly developed medium and large vans that the company introduces from that year will be underpinned by its new VAN.EA architecture.
Mercedes refers to it as a “modular, flexible and scalable” electric vehicle architecture that would aim to “reinvent” the van as we know it.
But where does this leave the current internal combustion engined Mercedes van models? According to Car and Driver, these existing ICE models will remain on sale until at least the end of this decade, or for as long as there is demand for them.
The current Mercedes V-Class was given a significant revamp in 2023.
But back to the new electric family, Mercedes says the VAN.EA architecture will allow for a clearer differentiation between the commercial van models and the privately positioned vans, such as VIP shuttles and spacious premium family MPVs.
To that end, the vans will also meet a wide variety of customer demands, and they’ll be available in front-wheel drive as well all-wheel drive variants.
What’s more they’ll be equipped with the latest Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS) as well as an 800 volt charging system.
Currently prototype vehicles are undergoing testing in a wide variety of conditions.
“Following a long-distance journey from Stuttgart to the North Cape in early June 2024 with a specially constructed vehicle for testing the chassis, electric powertrain, battery and high-voltage components, the current tests focus on the interaction of all components in the overall vehicle. In winter, the next major milestone will be the cold testing in Sweden,” Mercedes said.
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