Mercedes-Benz Citan

“If you can’t beat them, join them”. This is one more intersection point which proves the car world is more related to the popular culture than what could be imagined in a first thought. The current market demands the cars to be updated more intensely and more often, but not every automaker can afford that easily. That’s when the joint-ventures started to appear more frequently, like with PSA and GM, and most recently when Renault-Nissan associated itself to the German brand who now releases a new commercial vehicle.

Multivans are the minivans’ “worker sisters”. They came about ten years after the very first minivans were released, because there was a little gap that could only be filled with other cars. The main proposal of offering plenty of internal space for big families is still shared, but these categories differ on how each one does it. Multivans are essentially the passenger version of cargo vans, which explains their box-shaped cabin and the overall lower-cost concept, frequently paired to a very ludic style, created with playful colors and big shapes.

On the other hand, their existance has freed the minivans to invest at the upscale customers, bringing much more luxury and sophistication since the very well-scuplted exterior to fascinating cabins – while the multivans add two seats on the trunk to complete seven, today’s minivans use two different vehicles. This is why Renault Scénic and Dacia Lodgy, for instance, will never receive cargo or pick-up versions, because those are offered by Kangoo and Dokker, respectively. Since Mercedes isn’t used to offer minivans but does have a commercial line: they decided to reccur to the new partner to give Sprinter and Viano a baby sibling, so it would only make sense to choose Kangoo.

Joint-ventures usually come with no previous plans of the involved automakers, so it always takes some time for them to rearrange their respective projects. Renault’s van received the typical badge-engineering facelift to turn into Citan, whose biggest changes were performed at the front fascia. Since it’s always too expensive to change the side section, Mercedes directed the efforts into adapting its current design language to Kangoo’s round elements, and has actually achieved a good-looking result, with no dissonant items – in fact, Citan started to remind its French sister is starting to need a half-life facelift. The cabin wasn’t too deeply changed, showing very pragmatic elements in order to reduce the costs.

This car will be produced along with Kangoo at Renault’s French plant of Maubeuge, and as it’s usual with this kind of release, there are no structural differences between these two. Mercedes, however, decided to power its own van with three diesel engine options, whose power goes from 75 to 110 hp, and a 114-hp turbocharged gasoline option. There’s always a manual transmission but with five or six speeds, and it’s also possible to purchase the BlueEfficiency package, which adds more efficient tires, start/stop system and several smaller items to improve fuel consumption. The price list hasn’t been released yet, but it’ll have passenger and cargo versions.

Mercedes-Benz Citan Crewbus and Mixto (15/10/2013)

Considering that Kangoo has always had long-wheelbase versions, why wouldn’t Citan get them too? Sure, the bad looks could be a dealbreaker, specially for a Mercedes-Benz, but since we’re talking about the commercial lineup… Now it’s possible to take up to seven passengers with Crewbus without leaving their suitcases, because the extended dimensions cleared some extra room for the trunk as well. But if you want to take this proportion to the other side, Mixto closes the third side windows in order to increase the cargo area. It’s another typical case of combinated commercial van, which reduces the passenger count to five. Both share Mercedes’ new look at front and rear fascias with the short-wheelbase siblings.

Yes, it is really hard to forget those weird-looking rear fenders, but this was the way Renault found to stretch the car without doing the same to its final price. On the plus side, there are two new engine options: both come from the French automaker, and compose two new trim levels. 111 CDI features the turbo-diesel dCi 1.5L unit and reaches 110 hp and 24.4 kgfm, which makes it capable of going from 0 to 100 kph in 12s3 and to the top speed of 170 kph. 112, in turn, uses a gasoline-burner TCe 1.5L and produces 115 hp, enough to take those numbers to 11s7 and 173 kph. Long-wheelbase Citan will always use manual transmission.