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The Mercedes-Benz Metris is a pretty solid midsize van -- so much so, in fact, that we really enjoyed our long-term Metris press loan, which turned out to be a great video production vehicle. However, it appears the Metris' time in the US has drawn to a close, along with a specific variant of the larger Sprinter van.
Mercedes-Benz will discontinue both the Metris and the gas-powered Sprinter vans in the US next year, Automotive News reports, citing a memo sent to Mercedes' US dealers. According to that memo, both vehicles will end their runs in the US after the third quarter of 2023.
So, what happened? The inexorable march of time is what happened. "The product cycle of the four-cylinder gasoline engine will end in the course of the next year (2023)," wrote a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson in an email to CNET. "[This is] according to plan as the company prepares to make a shift toward an all-electric portfolio." The gas I4 used in the aforementioned vans was the result of a joint manufacturing venture with Nissan, based out of the Japanese automaker's facility in Decherd, Tennessee.
The Metris was updated for the 2021 model year with a whole bunch of new tech, covering improvements to both infotainment and driver assistance, and it was available in both cargo and passenger configurations. While it occupies a niche slot between more common compact and large vans in the US, it never took off in the way Mercedes had perhaps hoped. According to Automotive News' report, most Metris orders in the 2020s have come by way of a multi-year contract with the US Postal Service.
In the near future, Mercedes will bring its latest generation of eSprinter to the US. This electric full-size van, which we have already driven and enjoyed, should be a suitable replacement for the gas-powered Sprinter currently riding off into the sunset -- especially since many of the changes made to the eSprinter were to prepare it for the needs of the US market specifically. In the meantime, four-cylinder diesel Sprinters will remain available after the gas engine phases out.