The first of the new Sprinter vans has just rolled off the assembly line at the Dusseldorf plant of Mercedes-Benz Vans, and this is seen as the start of something big for the brand and the division, as the company hopes that the class-leading van will continue its tradition of superb market performance.

All this is after Mercedes-Benz infused €25 million (around $32.7 million) in investment money into its Dusseldorf and Ludwigsfelde. The Sprinter represents a key component of the Daimler division’s ‘Vans goes global’ strategy, which aims to make the business more global in scope and explore new growth markets.

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is an agile and versatile vehicle. The concept for it was supposed to blur the line between a van and a car (according to the German traffic law definition), and that’s exactly what this commercial vehicle does. The Sprinter is enjoying sales in some 130 countries worldwide, with a total of around 2.5 million units sold over these past 18 years.

Apart from those two German facilities, the Sprinter is also produced across the world in Charleston, South Carolina in the USA, in Argentina, and in China. There are also plans to have Sprinter Classic production over in Russia in order to get into that market.