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Joint venture brings new van for Mercedes
Date: Friday, April 16, 2010
A new high-cube Mercedes van set to compete with key rival Volkswagen’s Caddy is likely to be one of the fruits of a tie-up between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent.
To be assembled at Renault’s plant in Maubeuge, France, and scheduled for launch in 2012, the newcomer looks set to be derived from Kangoo. Now available with three different wheelbases, Kangoo is already assembled there.
The lack of something to compete with Caddy and other models such as Ford’s Transit Connect and Citroën’s Berlingo is a major gap in the Mercedes range. A project to build a high-cube van based on the Vaneo compact MPV foundered a few years ago because the cost turned out to be too high.
Renault will also be building diesel engines and gearboxes for the new Mercedes Vito, scheduled for launch later this year. And rumour has it that there will be front- as well as rear-wheel drive derivatives.
As part of the wide-ranging co-operation, which should help the manufacturers cut costs and encompasses cars too, Renault-Nissan and Daimler are taking small shareholdings in each other.
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