Mercedes reckons its new VAN.EA platform will herald “a completely new era of vans”

Calling all A-list celebrities; we hope you’re ready to say goodbye to that retrimmed V-Class, because Mercedes-Benz is readying a new “modular and scalable” platform for electric vans that it reckons will usher in “a completely new era”. Bold claim.

The platform will be known as the Van Electric Architecture – or VAN.EA in Merc shorthand – and it’ll apparently allow for a “clear differentiation between privately positioned vans in the luxury segment and commercial vans in the premium segment”. Or in plain English – it’ll allow Mercedes to sell even more expensive people carriers. So yeah, all those modified V-Classes might be about to become obsolete.

Merc says that its new range for private buyers will include posh family buses, ultra-posh ‘VIP shuttles’ and tall limos that’ll presumably fill the back of a van with a couple of armchairs, many screens and a whole lot of leather.

We’ll see a concept car in spring 2025 which will apparently set out Merc’s vision for the poshest of all its vans, and we’re told that the new creations will see Mercedes “defining its unique own segment”. Erm, have they forgotten that the Lexus LM exists?