Mercedes Just Unveiled One of the World’s Most Luxurious Vans

A Mercedes-Benz Jet Sprinter is what you take to the Met Gala to make a serious entrance, or what you use to get your entourage from your Tribeca townhouse to Teterboro in time for wheels up. With builds that start at $200,000 and climb over a half-million—plus the donor vehicle cost—this type of rolling luxuryLuxuryA lifestyle defined by exceptional quality, craftsmanship, exclusivity, and sophistication, encompassing the finest products, services, and experiences that represent the highest standards of refinement and excellence.Go to Luxury Glossary was reserved for Hollywood, hedge fund, or oligarch types. Until now. With its new VLE, Mercedes is making an all-electric Jet Sprinter van for the everyday consumer. 

The VLE is the first vehicle built on Mercedes’ new modular Van Architecture, which allowed engineers to rethink the interior from scratch. The result is a rolling first-class suite with a drag coefficient of just 0.25—remarkable for something this spacious—with a design aesthetic of low-slung grand tourer meets people mover. The downward sloping roofline, arc-shaped taillights integrated into an aerodynamic rear bodywork, and a bold illuminated grille give the VLE a handsome presence. The shimmering bronze model we checked out in Stuttgart featured monoblock rims, a combination that sounds like it doesn’t work in this application, yet it does. Superbly.

A Backseat You’ll Fight Over

After the doors automatically slide open and you step inside, someone will likely have to force you to leave. The new Sky View panoramic roof—a single unbroken pane of glass running from the B-pillar all the way to the rear—floods the cabin with light and creates a sense of openness. Surround ambient lighting wraps every occupant from cockpit to third row, while the furniture-inspired interior design and multiple individualization options ensure no two cabins need look alike.

The seat portfolio is where things get genuinely indulgent. Mercedes offers three types of rear seating, topped by the Grand Comfort Seat: an electric throne with an integrated pillow, lumbar support, massage function, calf support, and wireless charging. Plush and supportive, you sink into the leather as the heated massager warms and kneads your body. The wireless charging phone cradle, attached to the armrest, feels like something from a NASA operations center; functional, precise, and thrilling to use. 

Electrically adjustable seats go a step further with Mercedes’ “Remote Variable Rear Space” feature, allowing the infotainment system or the Mercedes-Benz app to reposition the seats between four pre-set modes. Those include maximum luggage space (“Baggage”) to CEO-grade legroom (“Executive”). And riders will no longer be relegated to the third row; it’s properly comfortable there, even for the long-legged. With the second row seat fully backward and occupied by a 6’3” Mercedes van rep, this 6’2” author was able to sit comfortably in the third row without kissing his knees once. (This does come at the expense of luggage. Transport a family of giants and watch the decently large truck space shrink considerably.) 

For the rear passengers, the showstopper is the optional MBUX Rear Space Experience: a retractable 31.3-inch panoramic screen—ratio 32:9, resolution 8K—that lives hidden in the headliner above the front seats. Say “Hey Mercedes, start the cinema experience” and the screen glides out, the electric seats recline, the window shades draw, and the cabin transforms into a mobile movie theatre. This sequence will make you feel, briefly, like you’re living in a movie rather than watching one. 

The Burmester 3D Surround Sound System backs it all up with 22 speakers and Dolby Atmos. More than 40 apps are available onboard, including Disney+, RIDEVU from Sony Pictures Entertainment, and support for Bluetooth gaming controllers. For those who wish to work, an integrated eight-megapixel camera makes video conferencing crisp and easy. And yes, you can split the screen into two views, so each rear seat occupant can enjoy their own experience. 

700 Kilometers of Range and a 15-Minute Top-Up

The VLE runs on an 800-volt electrical architecture paired with a new 115 kWh NMC battery. Mercedes quotes a WLTP range of over 700 kilometers (roughly 435 miles), and with 300-plus kilowatt DC fast charging, you can add up to 320 kilometers of range in 15 minutes. The top-spec VLE 400 4MATIC will push 305 kW through all four wheels and hit 62 mph in 6.5 seconds, which are not numbers you expect to read about a van that seats eight.

Tech That Does the Driving for You

The backseat is clearly where it’s at, but behind the wheel has perks, too. The cockpit features the optional MBUX Superscreen—a single glass panel concealing a 10.25-inch driver display, a 14-inch central screen, and a 14-inch front-passenger entertainment display. Given the VLE’s footprint, Mercedes loaded it with semi-autonomous assistance systems that make piloting it far less demanding than you’d expect. Every model ships with a sensor array of 10 cameras, five radar sensors, and 12 ultrasonic sensors tied to a water-cooled high-performance computer. The optional MB.DRIVE ASSIST package enables cooperative steering, semi-autonomous motorway cruising via Distance Assist DISTRONIC, and Lane Change Assist.

Parking and low-speed maneuvering are where the VLE’s engineering choices are most helpful. The standard rear-axle steering with a seven-degree lock angle shrinks the curb-to-curb turning circle to just 35 feet—comparable to the compact CLA sedan—while the more direct front-axle steering ratio means fewer turns of the wheel to execute a full U-turn. The VLE will park itself and automatically reverse out of the spot, too. It took three tries during our demo, but the VLE did ultimately back into a parking spot between two cars properly. It left the spot cleanly each time, though.

The VLE goes on sale globally with the rear-wheel-drive 300 electric variant leading the launch, followed shortly by the all-wheel-drive 400 4MATIC. Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but expect the grand limousine to carry a suitably grand price tag, starting above $80,000.

Click here for more photos of the Mercedes-Benz VLE.

This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.