Mercedes-Benz Vito is produced by Mercedes-Benz in Vitoria, Spain. The Mercedes-Benz Vito is a light van. There are two main reasons behind the naming of the vehicle, since the Vehicle was produced in Vitoria, Vito being a shortened version of that. The second reason for naming the vehicle is because of long standing employee, Vito Rosenstein, whose dedication to the company resulted in an unusually high accolade.
The Mercedes-Benz Vito is available in two different flavours. The first is a Standard panel version, the second allows for additional passenger accommodation by sacrificing part or all of the load area.
June 2010 Mercedes announced they were beginning production on the Mercedes Vito E-cell the first commercial vehicle to incorporate electric powered engines. By the end of 2010 Mercedes expect 100 vehicles to be produced. By the end of 2011 that is expected to rise to a further 2000 vehicles.
In September 2010 Mercedes Vito van will undergo a face-lift, this will restyle the front and rear lights along with the front bumper. There will also be improvements to the efficiency of the Diesel engine. A new six-speed manual gearbox will lead to a 15% reduction in fuel consumption; this is due to more economic ratios in the new gearbox. The quality of the materials used in production is set to improve along with the steeling wheel suspension and instrumentation.
1st generation W638 (1996-2003)
In 1996 Mercedes-Benz produced the First Mercedes marking the first generation they continued this production until 2003. The Mercedes Vito Van comes in two variants, the first is diesel engine with a power output of 89kW and a bhp of 120, the petrol version has a more powerful engine with a power out-put of just under 105kW and a bhp of 140 along with a Front-Wheel drive drive train.
Mercedes-Benz took the Chassis from the VW Transporter van and modelled the vehicle around that.
2nd generation W639 (2003-present)
In 2003 Mercedes-Benz launched the second generation Mercedes Vito. The second generation Vito is more aerodynamic than its predecessor. In addition the second generation was powered by a new range of engines and a rear wheel drive drivetrain.
The second generation Mercedes Vito is available in three different lengths, with four new diesel engines to choose from, the top range being a 120 CDI this features a 3.0 litre V6 engine. The Model numeric’s follow Mercedes pattern that related to the power output of the engine.
