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ARTFUL DODGER
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When is a Mercedes Sprinter not a Mercedes Sprinter? When it's a Dodge Sprinter. But will a familiar badge persuade US buyers to buy a small-engined diesel burner instead of a petrol guzzling behemoth?
It's a tall order. When Mercedes-Benz launched the Sprinter in 1995 European operators were ready for a new European product — witness the growth of Sprinter sales over the following eight years.The Sprinter is now second only to the once unassailable Transit in the UK. and many observers would argue that its success has done much to turn around M-B's Commercial Vehicle division in Europe.
But the United States is a different matter. It's a mature market, with proven solutions to its own transport requirements. In other words.there's no shortage of existing products. bearing the names of existing and well-estab lished brands. What's more, vans in the US tend to start their life as passenger vehicles that then find themselves sans seating.The notion of a purpose-built light CV in the European sense is a relatively new one.
New for old A new brand and a new idea in an old market isn't the stuff of sweet dreams for the sales department.ToAmerican buyers MercedesBenz means luxury cars, not vans or trucks. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter would be a non-starter. After a brief flirtation as a Freightliner-badged product, DaimlerChrysler now markets it with Dodge signage. With the brand issue done and dusted, the real challenge can begin.
It's pretty simple: this is a country wher numbers matter. Forget four cylinders; sh gets you to the junior table but, to play foi real money, eight is the magic digit, or 10 i you're really serious. And cylinder blocks V-shaped; in-line is out of line.The notion straight five hasn't, until now, made the tic flicker too much among CV buyers.
And then there's the big issue... diesel. Outside of Class seven and eight, diesel is the average US citizen.more a clothing b than a fossil fuel. Petrol commonly costs I than 40pilit,and mpg doesn't begin to hoi the natives until the needle's glow red and the nearest pump is 200 rn away.As for the environmental as whither Kyoto? Mobility is closer ballot box than the ozone layer.
These are the problems facing t Sprinter in the States—but what is the US market actually getting? Ii sounds very familiarThe 2004 Dc Sprinter is available in the same ti wheelbases and two roof heights in Europe.
In fact, external changes are fey far between.There are Dodge wh trims, and a '2500' logo on the fror quarter pan el.The front end hash remodelled by the simple expedie of removing the M-B star logo an replacing it with a flush fitting grill Dodge logo sits on the bonnet).A that.for the outside, is about it.
Inside this is pure Sprinter thro and through There's a Dodge ins, the steering wheel, and that's thel We looked for a dashboard moun handbrake release, as found in thi and Vito ranges, and were amuse( find that Dodge has retained the t tional floor mounted version.
And so, with the new Vito, Men Benz Europe has the task of educ drivers about a US-type configuri while in the US, Dodge gets the jo explaining the European approa( with the Sprinter. Okey-dokey.
Under the bonnet (or hood, as former colonies would have it), th lies the well-known 2.7-litre CD I engine boasting 154hp and 330Nt torque.
Standard for the US market is a tomatic five-speed gearbox culled the S Class car range.This electron controlled transmission with lock-up torque converter is equipped with a toggle shifting ("Touch-Shift") capability, allowing interchangeable manual operation by simply tipping the gearshift left or right.
Of manual or Sprint-shift gearboxes there is not a sign. Nor do the European options of a four-cylinder petrol engine or LPG appear on the menu. It seems Mercedes is determined to break the American addiction to petrol.
With so many similarities between the US and European models, it's hardly surprising that getting behind the wheel of the Dodge version should provoke such a sense of cl6ja vu.The only feature that is new although now available in Europe — is the automatic box.
Seeing the light
And here, it has to he said, we are instant converts.The five-speed auto unit is a boon on crowded city streets. Dallas is going through the roof at present:it's a busy place and the traffic takes no prisoners. Being able to stick the Sprinter into drive and then poodle along as necessary with both eyes looking outwards is a big leap forward in terms of driver comfort and pedestrian safety alike.
Dodge pitches the automatic-only option in terms of reduced labour costs for clutches and the like, and we can see this argument holding water on both sides of the Atlantic.
When you want to stay in a particular gear, say at the bottom of a steep hill.simply toggle from drive to one of four forward manual ratios. Once again, we find ourselves setting odds as to the date of the final demise of the clutch pedal in the commercial vehicle.
In truth. the Sprinter feels just as at home in the States as it does in Europe. It's well suited to both urban and long-haul distribution and you can drive all day without recourse to a chiropractor.
This is a good start. In terms of productivity, it may look to be a touch under-powered for the US market but, as already discussed, punting a sub-three-litre diesel into a market dominated by spark ignition behemoths is going to take some work.
At its US plated weights of 3.87 tonnes and 4.49 tonnes it works pretty well.
Indeed, a quick glance through the opinions of US-based road testers seems to suggest that the only real problem encountered in the Land of the Free is the rake
of the steering wheel.As criticisms go, this is far from damning.
But the real significance of the Dodge Sprinter lies beyond selling vans to North American customers. At present the dollar is on the floor against both sterling and the euro, making imported vehicles a bit pricey.
Moreover, order a Dodge Sprinter today and you'll be lucky to take delivery by mid summer. In a land where instant gratification is almost a mantra, a half-year lead time is a long time indeed.
DaimlerChrysler still doesn't know if its Gaffney. South Carolina. plant will extend to build Sprinters from the ground up: at present, it produces vans on a CKD basis, while passenger and chassis-cab variants are driven off the boat from Dusseldorf.
Nonetheless the Dodge Sprinter is beginning to catch the imagination of American operators. Fleet business, and big fleet business at that, is already being done and the all-important retail sector looks set to follow. It's early days yet, but it does look as if this one is going to fly.
Fresh horizons Which means that, all of a sudden, two major markets can share one product.The Dodge Sprinter is, less signage and US plates, the same vehicle that you would see in Europe with a Mercedes-Benz badge. One product for two markets is good news for the manufacturer... all of a sudden, Ford's on-off Econoline Transit idea begins to make a bit of sense.
And let's not forget that Europe is some way ahead of the US in terms of light conunercials,so a successful Sprinter launch is bound to interest the other big European light CV players.
Will we see a rebadged Movano sold through the General Motor's network? Or an invasion by Volkswagen? It would be a brave man who ruled anything out at presents