A New Concept For Van Luxury Lifetype

About half the time after I land in Europe for automotive media launch packages, a Mercedes-Benz Metris or V-Class picks me up from the airport. Diesel engine chugging away, stiff suspension sending each final bump within the street straight to my backbone, seats that hardly recline– a minimum of the air-con works, so I don’t overheat after 20 hours of air journey on the usually quick journey to a close-by resort.

Fleet taxis like these signify an ideal utility for electrical automobile adoption, due to easy driving dynamics, repeated quick journeys interspersed with downtime for charging, and the packaging made potential by skateboard battery layouts. No marvel Mercedes-Benz envisions a worldwide market, and earlier this yr, it debuted an all-electric idea van dubbed “Vision V” in Shanghai.

Now, Vision V arrives within the USA for Monterey Car Week 2025, and Mercedes provided choose media an opportunity to preview the idea in Los Angeles the week earlier than. Staged above Dodger Stadium, north of Downtown LA, the van served as a real design train, with purposeful options however not but prepared for journalist driving impressions. So in fact, I climbed aboard to fiddle with as lots of the screens and seats and nifty tech options as potential, whereas nonetheless
realizing that loads will change – or vanish solely – by the point the eventual sequence model reaches manufacturing in 2026.

Concept Meets Reality

Surprisingly, Mercedes reps available insisted that the Vision V very strongly resembles what’s going to come to actuality. If so, that design will certainly inaugurate a newly futuristic styling period for vans. An huge chrome grille dominates the nostril, surrounded by 190 illuminated louvers that resemble tiny black-and-white piano keys, in addition to one other 200 stretching throughout the recessed headlight bar, full with tri-star motifs. Above, an illuminated Benz badge provides
option to twin bulges on the “hood” regardless of the entire lack of an inner combustion engine.

The sides and roofline then swoop backward dramatically. Note the dearth of rails for a sliding door or two, for which Mercedes as an alternative invented a nifty hinging system that retracts solely into the underfloor—each to wash up the outside styling but in addition to enhance aerodynamics. At the rear, that aero theme continues with 450 extra illuminated louvers on the crisp fringe of a refined roof spoiler that’s complemented by a chrome decrease diffuser.

None of the aero parts prioritize downforce, as a result of the Vision V is definitely not a supercar nor a standard efficiency automobile. Instead, efficiency on this case means vary – however Benz declined to share simply how good of a coefficient of drag the slick design produces. Which, in flip, suggests how critical the modifications to the general kind on the way in which to a completed manufacturing van could be, even when the full exterior dimensions will reportedly measure solely fractions of an inch totally different for every thing aside from top. 

From afar, the design definitely helps to reduce the impression of dimension: I’d have by no means guessed the size is available in at a considerable 18 toes, anyway, on a wheelbase of 139 inches. That’s over a foot of wheelbase greater than a present S-Class, for context, however underneath eight inches of added size total due to smaller overhangs previous the wheels.

Luxury is Tech, Tech is Luxury

The eventual manufacturing variations will skip the notorious EQ naming construction, regardless of using three or 4 inches taller than the Vision V, and can be often known as the VLE and VLS. This positions equally to the GLE and GLS, with the previous as extra of a folks hauler that may seat as much as eight, and the latter an government limousine jam-packed with creature comforts and tech as seen on the idea.

I climbed inside to place a hand on the white Nappa leather-based and really feel the open-pore wooden parts of the retro-futuristic aesthetic. Chess items in a transparent cubby to my left and fantastic glassware for drinks disappeared from my thoughts, nonetheless, as soon as an enormous 65-inch display unfurled from beneath the ground.

Mercedes calls this rear passenger compartment a “private lounge” and the tech options “interactive worlds.” So the large display can clearly play films and TV reveals, whereas providing a gaming controller setup, on-line buying, and even karaoke by way of a microphone. 

A digital camera hidden into the molding within the ceiling above the display additionally permits for video chats– as an additional dedication to work-life continuity that Mercedes made potential with a latest Microsoft Teams partnership. But there’s additionally a chilled hearth mode that drops the display decrease, in order that flames change into seen beneath the curvature between the ground and pedestal.

Up to 42 audio system, together with in-seat exciters, and 7 digital projectors additional improve the immersion into an inescapable digital world, although I really loved a digital detox extra by reclining the surprisingly comfy seats so far as potential. 

These cross-cylindrical pads will probably not survive to manufacturing, however really present a pillowy stage of help that works nicely whether or not upright or in an almost flat sleeping mode—nice for catching up on shuteye after an extended flight whereas the chauffeur drives, or alternatively whereas plugged in at a charging station. 

So far, the Vision V’s EV vary and charging stats stay a thriller. Mercedes declined to specify battery capability, aside from a variety goal of 300 miles. The skateboard battery will run on an 800-volt structure; nonetheless, to enhance charging speeds, and can are available in each front- wheel-drive (for effectivity) and 4Matic layouts. Whether which means a single, twin, tri, or quad-motor system additionally went unanswered.

I can verify that the vans will use rear-wheel steering to additional optimize the skateboard battery’s low heart of mass and suspension to make driving as just like a standard automobile as potential, slightly than a Spartan supply van. And within the USA, Mercedes plans to make use of NACS cost ports to allow entry to Tesla’s Supercharger community, as on the brand new electrical CLA-Class.

Rear-wheel steering ought to enhance maneuverability in tight European metropolis streets, which helps each fleet drivers and personal patrons alike. And the Vision V’s entrance cockpit appears to be like nearly as comfy because the rear, regardless of the lack to recline the 2 seats practically as far. But loads of high-tech inclusions trace at a market not simply devoted to the chauffeur and taxi driver.

For Mercedes, which means a ton of display, or the notorious three “Superscreen” shows that stretch all the way in which throughout the sprint. But luxurious touches all through embody the same seats, metallic throttle and brake pedals, and glass instances within the doorways that match the rear’s—for holding sun shades, this time, not champagne flutes.

Separating the rear passenger compartment from the entrance, an expansive liquid-crystal pane of glass can change from clear to opaque in milliseconds. The similar goes for the facet home windows, whereas the roof will get a full cover shade. And the roof even options 168 photo voltaic cells, which might cost at charges as much as 539 watts.

Converting that to as a lot as 3.44 kilowatt-hours on a sunny day implies that the roof alone would possibly contribute to low double-digit vary will increase with out ever plugging right into a cost station – sufficient for a lot of drivers who solely commute quick distances to and from work. Can the Vision V Revive Van Life within the USA?

Can the Vision V Revive Van Life within the USA?

To my eye, the Vision V caters much less to a personal purchaser, and barely even to the American market. Here, luxurious employed vehicles will most likely change over from ubiquitous Escalades to GM’s personal huge EV, the Escalade IQ. The extra widespread acceptance of chauffeured vans in each Europe and Asia appears extra ripe for the Vision V to succeed.

I additionally left the preview stunned at how little the Vision V prioritized autonomous driving capabilities, within the period of Waymo and Zoox, and Tesla’s “any day now” Robotaxi. Mercedes arguably leads the business with the one Level 3, or really hands-free, driving system out there available on the market as an choice on the S-Class and EQS since mannequin yr 2024. The undeniable fact that this idea van even features a steering wheel, due to this fact alerts that maybe Mercedes nonetheless views
full autonomy as far sufficient sooner or later that it’s nonetheless price growing an entire new automobile platform within the interim interval.

Suffice to say, the Vision V raised as many questions as any typical idea automobile—or much more, given the distinctive nature of a futuristic electrical van. Regardless of precisely how a lot of the design and expertise finally survives to the manufacturing VLE or VLS, I totally anticipate to get picked up in an electrical Mercedes van for these airport transfers beginning frequently simply subsequent yr.

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Images Source: Michael Van Runkle, Mercedes-Benz