Sprinter: a world van?
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DaimierChrysler is poised to turn the Sprinter into the nearest thing yet to a single European CV with a global presence. German-built models are already sold in South Africa and the Asia-Pacific area as well as western and eastern Europe, and vans built in Argentina are selling well there and in Brazil.
But before it can really become a world van, DaimlerChrysler will have to crack the tough US market. Americans might have taken cars of foreign origin to their hearts, but imported CVs have made slower progress.
lsuzu and Renault/ Mack have made inroads into the market for light trucks (similar to our 7.5-tonners) and the Japanese sell a lot of pickups, but vans are almost entirely local.
The company has BO Sprinters on service trials in the massive Federal Express fleet ready for an assault on the US market next year.
Although the US has different emissions standards, Mercedes engineers say compliance is simply a matter of retuning.