First pics: Mercedes-Benz Citan

Mercedes-Benz is about 18 months away from a new stage in its commercial vehicle marketing program. Around the middle of next year the importer will launch the Citan light commercial vehicle into the Australian market, in a determined assault on the small van sector. It's a shakeup for the company's commercial vehicle division not seen since the release of the original Vito and Sprinter models here back in 1998.

Details are scant at present, but Senior Manager for Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz Australia, David McCarthy, spoke with motoring.com.au earlier today and laid out some of the groundwork for the new van. But pricing was off limits.

"At this point, we can't [talk about pricing], because we haven't decided what variants we're taking," McCarthy said. "We are taking a petrol and a diesel — both will offer close to 200Nm."

That torque figure comes very close to the output for the Renault Kangoo (200Nm for the Euro 4-compliant 1.5 dCi model), prompting the question: how will the Citan be positioned in the market against the Kangoo? McCarthy didn't answer directly, but it does appear that Mercedes-Benz plans a very aggressive marketing campaign for the Citan when it arrives here.

"I'm not in the business of giving our competitors, even when we cooperate with them at some level, a free kick," he said. "Make no mistake, we intend to be competitive, we intend to do decent volume with this van. Our customers expect us to offer a full suite of commercial vehicles.

"It's a small market; the people who buy vans in that segment buy them for a reason. They want compact; what we're offering them is the Mercedes-Benz of vans. This is a Mercedes-Benz, in the way it drives, in the way it's finished, in the way it's engineered — and it's going to surprise more than a few people, [based on] where we position it and how it's equipped."

As for whether the Citan, looks aside, will owe much to the Kangoo, McCarthy explained that active safety features incorporated in the Citan design will be one key element to separate the two models.

"The vehicle has a number of features that make it distinctly a Mercedes-Benz," he said. "It has our exclusive, adaptive ESP — as in our larger vans — which takes the vehicle's load into consideration. That includes, obviously ABS, VDC, which counters oversteer and understeer, traction control and anti-skid control, which uses braking torque."

As we reported previously, the engines powering the Citan are sourced from Mercedes-Benz. McCarthy confirmed this to be the case when he mentioned that the Citan for Australia will be "a BlueEFFICIENCY vehicle" and the engines will drive through a six-speed transmission (that we anticipate will be a self-shifter of some kind) to the front wheels. The Citan will feature auto-stop for optimal fuel use, for instance, as well as "battery and generator management", plus low rolling-resistance tyres for certain variants.

Asked whether the Citan would be available in differing wheelbases, as the Volkswagen Caddy and the Citroen Berlingo are, McCarthy finished with a strong hint that it's 'game on' from this point forward.

"I'm not prepared to discuss anything other than we're offering two engines. In terms of what bodies they go in, that's for me to know and the opposition to guess."

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