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The Dodge Sprinter is dead; long live the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
Perhaps triggered by Chrysler’s divorce from Daimler, its bankruptcy, and the liason with Fiat, Daimler A.G. will stop providing the company with Dodge-branded Sprinters. Instead, it will sell the tall, European van in North America as a Mercedes-Benz.
Daimler is in the process of establishing its Daimler Vans U.S.A. organization, which will oversee sales, service, and distribution of the Sprinter, in addition to its production at a satellite facility in Ladsen, South Carolina, effective January 1, 2010. At that time, the van will be dropped from Dodge’s portfolio.
Although the Mercedes-Benz name has long been applied to a wide range of commercial vehicles in Europe, Daimler has typically shied away from slapping the three-pointed star on similar products in North America. Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses have occasionally been sold in the U.S. as Mercedes-Benzes, but more often than not, they’ve been marketed and distributed by Daimler’s Freightliner and Orion subsidiaries, respectively. Even an attempt to re-launch the storied Unimog in North America spurred Daimler to create a unique sub-brand, instead of selling it as a Mercedes.
Daimler originally began selling Sprinters as Freightliners in 2002, but soon found it had a wider distribution network in the form of approximately 350 Dodge dealers, who were also urgently seeking a fullsize van offering to replace the ancient B-series. The Sprinter was offered as a Dodge product beginning in 2003, which opened up the van’s availability to consumers and contractors alike.
As Daimler ditches the Dodge sales network, it will work to sign up approximately 120 dealers to sell the Sprinter as a Mercedes-Benz, while continuing to sell the van as a Freightliner though 45 stores. One challenge: selling a commercial van alongside the luxury vehicles typically associated with the Mercedes-Benz name. According to Ernst Lieb, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, Sprinters will be somewhat segregated from their siblings at dealers, perhaps relegated to an outdoor area on the dealer’s lot.
“It could be a roofed area,” said Lieb. “That is how we did it in other countries.”
Dodge, for its part, may not be without a fullsize van for too long. Word has it Chrysler’s new advisory board is contemplating importing the Fiat Ducato, a van similar in size and design to Mercedes’ Sprinter.