The V-Class becomes the Wow class
Mercedes and space travel, this has not been an undisputed success story recently: the Swabians are big in trade, crafts and industry, but with families and especially with distinguished corporate customers, the V-Class never really land. And the – well – rather mediocre EQV has hardly made things better with limited range and modest charging performance.
Anyone who wants to drive a cool electric van can buy the ID.Buzz today, and in Asia, millionaires are not only buying the V, but increasingly even the S-Class because space in the traffic jams of megacities is the real luxury and this space in a Toyota Alphard, the Denza D9 or recently even in the Volvo EM90 is staged more elegantly. No, you wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of Mathias Geisen, who is responsible for the Vans.
Or maybe he is? Because Geisen is not only putting on a brave face, like any experienced manager. The head of the Stuttgart space division also knows that he may soon have a good laugh. Because together with his chief developer Andreas Zygan, he has put together a new kit under the acronym Van.EA, with which the Swabians’ electric space program should finally take off.
With a new electrical architecture, the Swabians want to reposition themselves in space travel.
Image: Mercedes
This applies to companies as well as private customers, right up to the executive floors. And its designer Kai Sieber has packaged the new vans in such a way that tradesmen feel like bosses on the construction site, courier drivers drive proudly to the landing ramp and the real bosses in their private van or company limousine no longer have to apologize for driving in a delivery van.
Not only will the individual areas be clearly separated in name, Sieber reveals, “but visually there will also no longer be any danger of confusion.”
Mercedes V-Class: Van.EA prototype no longer a standard panel van
And when the trio secretly shows the latest version of the series models planned for 2026, you have to agree with them: The days when the V-Class could be mistaken for a panel van in Kashmir should finally be over.
The gentlemen are fueling the idea of ​​the S-Class among vans with targeted indiscretions, their giant baby sparkles and flashes everywhere because there is plenty of chrome and even more tinsel from the LED shelf, keywords such as captain’s chairs, flat floor or XXL display are mentioned. “And we will certainly have a few more surprises to offer,” says Zygan, stoking curiosity. But they don’t want to be really specific about the ambience and appearance yet. And photos are of course also prohibited.
The days when the V-Class could be mistaken for a van in Kashmir should soon be over for good.
Image: Mercedes
When it comes to technology, however, they are not quite so tight-lipped. After all, their first prototypes are already out there – a year earlier than usual, by the way, because of the rush and a new development strategy – and in the spring they even completed a marathon drive of almost 4,000 kilometers to the North Cape, while Mission Control analyzed the data back home in Stuttgart. One of them has barely returned and is now on the famous test track in Untertürkheim. And Zygan can hardly wait for us to climb behind the wheel ourselves.
There isn’t much to discover. Although the car has the pale green adhesive coat of a prototype, the sheet metal of the predecessor is still hidden underneath, although it has been somewhat dented due to the visibly wide track. And the cockpit looks like an electronics kit for high school graduates, rather than the digital treasure chest that Sieber promised us.
Together, of course, with the latest Mercedes operating system MBUX and all software achievements of the in-house operating system MB.OS, right up to largely autonomous driving in the city, which software boss Magnus Östberg recently demonstrated in a CLA prototype in Beijing.
Significantly faster than the EQV
But you can feel all the more how gently and smoothly the astronaut glides along. As if it were not traveling on Belgian cobblestones, but on the Milky Way. How powerfully it accelerates, how solidly it rolls off. In this respect, the van is already closer to an S-Class than a Sprinter. It is significantly faster than the EQV, which is currently limited to 140 km/h, and it seems much more maneuverable on top of that.
The Van.EA is significantly faster than the EQV, which is currently limited to 140 km/h.
Image: Mercedes
Like all cars that are based on a dedicated electric platform and no longer have to leave room for a combustion engine, it has a noticeably smaller turning circle. That is why the V-Class corners as if it had been adapted to the format of the B-Class shrunk and whizzes quickly through the cone lane that they have set up inside the oval. Slaloming through stop-and-go traffic or parking in front of the Grand Hotel – the drivers have something to look forward to. And this time, that is not meant ironically.
For numbers, data and facts – here Zygan becomes tight-lipped again – we should please be patient a little longer. But you don’t have to be a clairvoyant to 800-volt system and more than 100 kWh, so that despite the supposedly aerodynamic shape, the more than 500 kilometers reach on the on-board computer, without which you can no longer compete in this class.
And as fast as the V-Class drives around the course, with a weight of probably three tons, it will have to be 300 kW that Zygan has installed on both axles.
Now the van makers just have to convince the rest of the management – and then the astronaut will become a high-flyer.
Image: Mercedes
Geisen, Zygan and Sieber could probably answer all the other questions, but they don’t want to yet. But there is one question that they are just as ignorant as we are: which brand logo will ultimately be emblazoned on the new Wow class. Because the prototype is so comfortable and dignified and the design drafts are so dazzling, it could even be a Maybach logo instead of the star.
The customers, as you can see from all the fake grills in Turkey and China, are already ready for this, and the car seems to be too. Now the van makers just have to convince the rest of the management – and then the astronaut will suddenly become a high-flyer after all.
