Draft: The weird and wonderful world of Mercedes Commercial vehicles around the world

"Kar Wai Wong" (kingawesome467) 11/09/2020 at 11:39 • Filed to: unfinished drafts, Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz, mercedesmonday, benz, BENZLOPNIK, Benzoppo, Sprinter

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! has been posting their   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I thought I’d join in with a few drafts I wasn’t planning on posting anyways. This one has been around 90% done for quite a while. I started this in November 2018, expect typos , inaccuracies and rough edges. It would probably be quite different were I to write it again today.

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One thing I’ve always wondered is how Mercedes-Benz can manage so many utilitarian brands, such as Mercedes trucks and buses, and still keep it’s oh-so-revered brand image. Sure for a couple of areas, including North America, don’t get stuff like Mercedes coaches and forward cab trucks, but they still sell a van or two, presumably due to not risking brand dilution. But for the rest of the world, the Mercedes badge can be seen pinned to any number of hardworking workhorses.

Mercedes’ lineup is 90% identical around the world, and wouldn’t be interesting enough for an entry in my badly named !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! series, so think of this post as a spinoff. Kinda. I mean, who cares?  

Now I want to clear up a few thing first. I see a few commentators think that Mercedes in Europe is considered similar to any other car, and lacks any sort of brand cachet here at all, which is why they can sell more utilitarian vehicles in Europe. Now I can’t speak much for the rest of Europe, other than it’s pretty similar, but in the UK at least, there’s a hint of truth in that statement. There is, perhaps unsurprisingly a much higher ratio of Mercedes, BMWs and Audis in Europe than elsewhere, where they’re somewhat uncommon (obviously varies). In Europe however, these European luxury cars are as common as Ford Fiestas. Oh crap, bad analogy, ummmmm......Priuses? Prii? Anyways, sure they’re alot more common, but they’re still considered fancy, they still have that allure, just probably alot more diluted. Have a new Mercedes, and you’ll still be seen as doing decent for yourself (by materialistic people I guess).

Another thing to note, although Mercedes was at the forefront of making soulless alphanumeric names, pretty much all of their non passenger models have proper names. And in every segment other than passenger cars, Mercedes is a run of the mill mainstream manufacture, their models having little to no luxury advantages than their competitors.

Vito/Metris to the left, V-Class to the right

Another thing, the Metris in America is known as the Vito elsewhere. A basic panel van/minibus. And there’s a V-Class, which is a proper luxury Mercedes version. Hence the -Class suffix.

Vito / Metris: Cargo van

Vito Tourer / Metris Passenger / Valante: Passenger van, formerly called Viano

V-Class: Luxury Passenger van

eVito: Electric Vito

EQV: Electric V-Class with more range

Marco Polo: V-Class campervan with kitchen

Marco Polo Horzon: V-Class campervan

Marco Polo Activity: Vito campervan

Not for Americans is the Mercedes Citan, a re-engineered Renault Kangoo, which I made a whole ode to a while back, and touched on the Citan too.

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And there’s the X-Class, which has gotten enough publicity as it is. Although, I never understood why it was called X-Class for all versions, even the workhorse spec ones. Aren’t -Class names reserved for standard Mercedes luxury?

Now every single time the G-Class is mentioned, a comment inevitably pops up proclaiming why they don’t make a stripped down off-road version of the G-Class, only to be buried with replies of “They already do.” (Also can be seen with the Land Cruiser 200). It’s called the G-Class Professional, and yes it has a -Class name, despite not being fancy. Come to think of it, you know what the perfect name would be instead: G-Wagon.

Exclusive to Oceania (And probably a few other places), their G-Class Professional is actually the OG 461, which they still make for the military. As you can see, it’s far from a stripped back luxury model, but a model that was never luxurious to begin with. It starts at 109,900 Australian dollars, which is WAY too much considering what it is.

Oh yeah, and there’s a Cab Chassis pickup version available too. Funnily enough there’s a confusingly named Edition PUR version with luxuries such as heated leather seats, electric mirrors and a radio and CD player. Minus the hilarious irony, isn’t that the exact opposite of what PUR(e) means? There used to be a G-Class Professional equivalent in Europe, which was actually the modern luxurious G-class, but stripped down.

And there’s also the Russian exclusive Sprinter Classic. It since got a very subtle facelift (The front bumper is different, I swear!)

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But anyways I feel most of this is somewhat common knowledge, so moving onto the lorries.

From left to right, the Mercedes-Benz Actros, Antos, Arocs and the Atego. At least I think, they all kinda look similar.

As you can see Mercedes has a naming scheme of nonsensical words beginning with the letter A. I’m not knowledgeable enough in lorries to inform you of the distinction between them all, so instead you can look at this nice picture of them.

Well except for the Mercedes Econic, which completely bucks that trend of names beginning with A. What gives? I guess it’s because the Econic isn’t really meant for hauling cargo like the others and is instead used almost exclusively for Garbage trucks and the occasional fire engine. Now also sold as the Freightliner Econic for ze Muricans, just like the Sprinter. A rebadged Mercedes! What a peculiar sight!

From left to right, the Mercedes-Benz Econic, Zetros, Unimog 216-530 and the Unimog 4023-5023

Mercedes really thinks of the Econic as the outcast child, as it’s cast out to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! division. Which isn’t really a bad thing, as this is where all the badass trucks are, with the Unimog, and it’s lesser known big brother, the Zetros. But man is the Econic so out of place though.

Aww! This is the Mercedes Accelo, and it’s really weird seeing the Mercedes badge on such a cheap looking thing! Fully designed by Mercedes Brasil, and it’s hard to believe that this isn’t some Mitsubishi rebadge job or something.

From left to right, the Mercedes-Benz Atego, Axor and the Actros.

In fact, South America is simply a timeline for old Mercedes truck models, all three models shown above have been replaced by new versions elsewhere in the world, but here they’re still kicking.

Remember the classic Short Bonnet trucks? They still exist! It’s called the Mercedes Atron (However forward cab Atrons do exist) and it’s built in Argentina! It hasn’t exactly inherited it’s predecessors’ handsome looks very well.

From left to right, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter City, Citaro NGT, Intouro, Travego, Tourismo K, Citaro and the Sprinter Travel. I researched WAY too much to get these names correct. I’m not too sure how current and modern this picture is.

Now let’s move onto some of the buses. Mercedes has a whole lineup of including some hilarious looking public transport versions of the Sprinter.

They look like completely different vehicles from the bonnet onwards!

There’s also the eCitaro, an electric version of their standard CItaro bus, which looks remarkably like it’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

They also sell a few region specific models around the world, such as this Indian Mercedes-Benz Super High Deck 2436. Catchy name!

Little information exists, as Mercedes-Benz Buses of India seem to have no website.

I’ll be back with the buses, but first a brief look at their Military division.

The collective powers of every single division of Mercedes join hands together to form an alliance known as Mercedes-Benz Avengers Defense Vehicles. Well except for coaches, they’ll be kinda useless. And smart I guess. Hmmm, how about remote controlled fortwos with bombs strapped to them?

Like I mentioned, they still produce the original OG 461 for military, a ton of cool variations, such as armoured versions and 6 wheelers (which the 6x6 was developed from).

Umm, could someone please tell me what is the point of a convertible Unimog? Don’t get me wrong, this thing is amazing, but I fail to see the use of folding windscreen in warfare. I thought the point is to not get shot?

To be fair, there’s not too much to say about their military vehicles, other than offroad lorries look frickin’ sweet.

Now, time to whip out la pièce de résistance! Now, like alot of other companies, Mercedes sells bare chassis for companies to develop their own buses and coach bodies off. Mercedes does the mechanical, The Cool Coach Company Ltd. does the body and interior.

This isn’t a bus chassis, rather a Mercedes Military chassis, but I just wanted to use this cool image.

This is pretty common, although !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! sells these finished coaches as their own Mercedes models, rather than the company who produced the body, although I’m sure they don’t mind as they get to stick that oh so lustrous star on their buses. But the result are some of the weirdest looking official vehicles ever sold under the Mercedes name.

They say I live my life a bus stop at a time...

I highly suggest you to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and have a laugh at the hilarious buses. Some had some effort put in to kinda resemble a proper Mercedes (But the rest of the design is so incoherent it just looks even more hilarious), whilst some just have Mercedes badges half heartily slapped on existing bus designs. Heck, one of them is literally just an unchanged !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !

These particular buses aren’t from Latin America, but rather official Kenyan Mercedes buses built on Brazilian chassis. The MB 1730, and the MB 917.

So that’s a look at Mercedes’ non-passenger vehicles. Who knew Mercedes would have such variety in models around the world?

I feel bad for other companies though, they spend millions and spend decades developing the perfect commercial vehicle, only to be outsold by a Renault, because it has a Mercedes badge on it. Completely unfair.

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I cancelled this as I questioned how official “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” is. I knew Mercedes probably didn’t design the buses themselves, but it was more about whether they officially endorsed and marketed them as their own. I think they are though, but even than their model list appears to be gone, I wish I had a screengrab of all the models they offered, they were hilarious regardless of their authenticity. I would do more research, especially about coach coachbuilding in general but oh well. The idea of Mercedes proudly offering around 30 of these awful looking buses was the crux of the whole post, the rest sorta fell apart after that. I wasn’t sure how interesting the the rest was on it’s own, and I question whether some of my jokes were actually funny. I haven’t checked how accurate this post still is, and how many models mentioned are still on sale, but I do know you can no longer get a G-Class Professional :( or an X-Class. I also found that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! continued way on Iran, they may even still make them, I don’t know how affiliated they still are to Mercedes though.

I found it fitting that on potentially my last long form post on OppOG, I linked !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , also focused on a foreign Mercedes commercial vehicle: the Sprinter Classic. Turns out, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The symbolism is off the charts. Anyways, I’m rambling, who on Earth is reading this?, I still want to know why convertible Unimogs exist, Peace.

Taylor Martin > Kar Wai Wong 11/09/2020 at 12:01

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I can’t imagine a Mercedes school bus picking me up in the morning, but it sounds real nice. Speaking of nice, this was an excellent article, so I’m glad you finally shared it with all of us.

Truth be told, I kind of wish we had more Mercedes minivans here in the states, because the only Mercedes vans we have are the sprinters (at least that’s all I’ve ever seen) and that gets boring quick. Also, they look as if they’re constantly about to tip over with their absurd top heaviness .

The Toretto is very cute, with a widdle Merc badge as a button nose, and made me smile, as did most of the busses... that’s just so odd to me.

Cheers pal!

Kar Wai Wong > Taylor Martin 11/09/2020 at 12:25

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Well like I said their buses aren’t really more luxurious than their other rival bus makes (maybe a little bit), so a Mercedes school bus designed for emerging markets sounds pretty awful to me. If the exterior design is that terrible ...

Than again I have ridden in Mercedes coaches a few times, one of them had some pretty decent leather seats just like this one, but many have just public transport style patterned cloth.

Amoore100 > Kar Wai Wong 11/09/2020 at 13:01

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Don’t forget the now Turkish-only Travego, facelifted by the Turks themselves!

I’ve always wondered why Mercedes sells buses, though. They have Setra in the group for that, don’t they? I guess it seems that Mercedes is for public services and Setra sells coaches, and Mercedes is appropriately killing off its coach fleet. I guess the Tourismo is considered inter-city public transit so it gets to stay, but obviously the Travego is no longer marketed by Daimler as a whole.

Taylor Martin > Kar Wai Wong 11/09/2020 at 14:12

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Dude, that interior is gorgeous. Have you ever seen the inside of an American school bus?

From the looks of it, the Mercedes actually has seat belts. I don’t get why nobody bothered to but seat belts in American busses but oh well...

Kar Wai Wong > Amoore100 11/09/2020 at 14:26

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I did learn that the Travego was Turkish only after I mostly abandoned this post. I don’t know all that much about heavy commercial vehicles , but I guess it’s not that similar from asking why Hyundai and Kia both exist, or Chevrolet and GMC, or Peugeot and Citro ën.

Kar Wai Wong > Taylor Martin 11/09/2020 at 14:48

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Well that’s not a school bus pictured, more of a long distance journey coach. European school buses would be more like Sprinters, typically used for stuff like football match trips.

Couldn’t find any Merc school bus pics, but here’s the interior of the Toreto. And we don’t get seatbelts on public transport buses either.

Amoore100 > Kar Wai Wong 11/09/2020 at 14:51

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It’s true, but Mercedes Daimler seems to be relatively clear-cut with their brands, this being perhaps the only exception. I suppose they did used to have Chrysler/Sterling   which was a muddled mess, but they’ve since streamlined.

Taylor Martin > Kar Wai Wong 11/09/2020 at 15:49

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Oh sheesh, I think you win with that Movilbus. Are those plastic with no cushions ? Not even thin, crappy, itchy ones?

Kar Wai Wong > Taylor Martin 11/09/2020 at 16:15

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Movilbus was the name of the blog I the stole the pic from! It’s from a Mercedes Toreto. Yeah it looks no more comfortable than a plastic primary school chair, at least its not   hard flat benches with no contouring . Sure a school bus doesn’t require standing space, but I find it funny how the US school buses are massive, and fill all the space with seating, while the much smaller looking Toreto has tiny closely packed seats with tons of empty space in the middle . I don’t know, maybe Mexico also uses American style school buses, it is part of North America after all.

Taylor Martin > Kar Wai Wong 11/10/2020 at 13:07

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The empty space in the middle may be because of bigger people. Children/teenagers tend to be small, whereas adults and the elderly can get a little wide if you catch my cold. Also, in the US, those busses want as many seats as they can so they have as many customers as they can so they get as much money as they can. All just guesses, but they’re based of logic... hypotheses?