Milling your future design into a half-van-half-rock is an interesting approach to a first glimpse at a your most important and successful product.
The Boulder reveal goes some way to showing the future design direction of what will presumably be the next Vito and Sprinter vans. Mercedes has already commented that the VAN platform will form the future basis of both the mid-sized and large vans in its portfolio.
It's also back-tracked on it being an electric-only platform, diluting its VAN.EA (Electric Architecture) intentions with a VAN.CA (Combustion Architecture).
That means that the future product must now be capable of not only housing batteries and motors, but also engines and gearboxes. The packaging and design of the van is therefore even more critical.
While at the preview event, we asked Kai Sieber, head of design smart at Mercedes-Benz, to draw us a sketch The Boulder. The result adds a small amount of additional detail to the hints already laid out by the rock.
The overall shape of the new van is already quite obvious, with a less tapered shape to the roof like and rear doors of the van. Sieber says this deliberate move will improve usability of the cargo area for all sizes of the van, adding that it will also make conversions easier.
That’s emphasised by the straight lines we’ve pulled out from the heavily disguised sketch Sieber drew for us.
The sporty looking van, very much a stylised design blending in the overall shape of the van with the stance and stature of The Boulder, shows strong waist lines and the prominence of the new grille.
There’s also the very obvious profile of the bonnet line and lower bumper. Although the latter is overly exaggerated.
The Boulder rock shows what Sieber describes as ‘vertical geometry’ in the design, telling us that although the space never changes, the packaging is optimised.
That hints at a broadly similar set of dimensions for the Sprinter and a similar size range for the Vito, but Sieber says the vertical changes, which are also apparent in the profile of the bonnet and windscreen will improve internal space for the driver, as well as the cargo area.
Sieber explains how the boxy interior will "mimic the square shape of the exterior".
What isn't clear is how The Boulder and the van platform will position the VAN platform for even smaller versions. Mercedes has announced it will end its relationship with Renault who currently produce the Mercedes-Benz Citan for them.
Will the scaleable platform, with a design that has been made specifically to adapt for large and medium vans be able to fill the gap in the small van segment?
Like Mercedes’ own The Boulder rock, the sketch is just a teaser but a tiny glimpse at the versatile platform Merc has developed and designed for its new vans.
We’ll see more of the commercial vehicle versions after the launch of the Mercedes-Benz VLE which will happen early next year.
