It’s nearly the 130th anniversary of the invention of the van, which, of course, Mercedes-Benz is celebrating in 2026. Karl Benz created the first motorized transporter in 1896 for the Benz & Cie. company, with two vehicles based on the Benz Victoria and Benz Velociped. Mercedes owns the oldest roadworthy example in existence, which was built in 1899, and it has been restored for the anniversary.
But that’s not the only way Mercedes will be celebrating 130 years of vans. 2025 marks 30 years of the Sprinter van, of which more than five million have been produced, and the next-generation Sprinter will be debuting next year, first in fully electric form. Mercedes isn’t quite ready to show off the new Sprinter yet, so it created a sculpture called THE BOuLDER to give a glimpse of the new van’s styling. (Yes, that really is how Mercedes is stylizing it.) Mercedes says its vans have always been “dependable, rock-solid business tools — and that commitment remains unchanged.” I’m going to try and resist making any puns.
That grille will probably light up
THE BOuLDER isn’t made from a real rock, anyway. Mercedes just says the “impressive and expressive stone-look sculpture” was milled from “a single block of material.” It is huge, though. The sculpture is 256 inches long, 108 inches tall and 98 inches wide; it seems like the van depicted in the “material” is a high-roof variant, but not one of the longer bodies — the current Sprinter can stretch to 290 inches long.
We can’t actually see much of the design, either, but probably the most important element is on full display: the grille panel. The next-gen Sprinter will first debut in fully electric form, probably ditching the eSprinter name of the current model, and it’ll have a large three-pointed star flanked by segmented lines that look like a normal grille’s vanes, but will surely be illuminated elements. I bet the grille panel will have the same shiny finish as the recently unveiled GLC. The new Sprinter’s hood also looks much more muscular, and the nose seems longer and more prominent in general. Otherwise, the bits of the Sprinter we can see look like, well, a van.
Both EV and combustion options
Underpinning the new Sprinter will be the VAN.EA and VAN.CA architectures, the former for EVs and the latter for combustion engines. The two platforms will share about 70% of components, with variants of both coming off the same production lines. Mercedes says this approach will allow for a clearer differentiation between commercial work vans and privately owned luxurious vans, as with the upcoming VLE and VLS that will replace the V-Class, previewed by the Vision V concept, and their commercial equivalents that will replace the Metris. There will be a variety of powertrains and vehicle configurations for the new Sprinter, and an even bigger palette for industry-specific customizations like flatbeds, campers and emergency vehicles.
The next-gen vans will use the same MB.OS operating system and high-power computers as Mercedes’ latest cars, which will support over-the-air updates for all vehicle software, and have deep integration for basically every system, with precise control for all actuators and sensors. This tech stack will also be a huge benefit to third-party fleet management and navigation tools.
The oldest one
Introduced just ten years after the Patent-Motorwagen, Benz’s Victoria-based delivery van was a “carriage with an enclosed by” while the Velociped-based combination delivery van was a “small coachmen’s carriage with a removable body,” allowing it to be converted into a two-seat passenger vehicle. Both had a single-cylinder four-stroke engine mounted in the rear with a whopping output of 2.75 to 6 horsepower, with a top speed between 9 and 13 mph when fully loaded, and they could carry 660 pounds not including the driver. That made them faster than a two-horse carriage while able to carry three times the payload.
Mercedes-Benz
The oldest remaining example is a combination delivery vehicle from 1899, which was built in England by Hewetson’s Ltd., the official Benz representative in the United Kingdom. This early model only had 3 hp and could only carry 220 pounds, plus the driver. Mercedes “meticulously restored” the frame and rebuilt the body for next year’s anniversary.
