Fleet owners in the UK bestowed the “Best Large Van” award on the Mercedes Sprinter at the 2010 Fleet World Honors for the third year in a row, it was reported by eMercedesBenz.com: “Steve Bridge, Mercedes-Benz Vans sales and marketing director, added: ‘The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has held the accolade of Best Large Van since 2008, and we’re thrilled it has retained its title again in 2010. The vehicle has repeatedly set standards by offering the van fleet market low whole life costs, excellent fuel economy and a firm commitment to safety.’ ”
Things seem a little muddier on this side of the pond – sure, FedEx, DHL and UPS have large numbers of Sprinters, and so do many tradesmen, at least east of the Mississippi. But an Autoweek article written just before Mercedes’ January takeover of North American Sprinter sales quotes Daimler Vans USA sales figures and concludes that 2006 was the best year for North American Sprinter sales, out of the following reported figures:
Sprinter U.S. sales
- 2001 — 1,893
- 2002 — 2,970
- 2003 — 7,150
- 2004 — 15,280
- 2005 — 23,655
- 2006 — 25,694
- 2007 — 19,589
- 2008 — 18,282
I haven’t managed to locate any official MB USA 2009 Sprinter sales figures, although another eMercedesBenz.com article reports that as of July 2010, US Sprinter sales for the year were only 3,974 vans (excluding Freightliner-badged units) – presumably, those figures include Sprinter-based RVs.
However, these figures don’t seem to represent the popularity of Sprinter-based RVs and Sprinter RV conversions, which have seemingly taken over the class-B RV market in the US because of the many advantages of the Sprinter chassis for a small RV platform. In contrast, when it comes to the fleet and passenger van markets, it may take a concerted marketing and customer service effort by Daimler Vans USA to regain the Sprinter momentum lost by handing the vehicle over to Chrysler for so many years in North America.
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