Mercedes-Benz Breaks Ground on Plant in S.C.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

What niche woud a WGO Transit Class B fill that isn't addressed by the ERA and the Travato?

A Transit would likely fill the niche of buyers who want something bigger than a Travato but not on a Mercedes chassis. Pricing would likely be between the Tavato and the ERA.

Lots of reasons buyers might prefer a Transit to a Sprinter...

Lower price
Made in US
More dealer and service locations
Traditional Ford buyers
Better handling and powertrain according to many Sprinter owners who have switched to Transit
Less complexity in the design of the Transit compared to the Sprinter

Transit has a couple easily fixed deficiencies vs the Sprinter which will likely be fixed by Ford, no swivel driver's seat and less max GVWR...

[avanti]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

Transit has a couple easily fixed deficiencies vs the Sprinter which will likely be fixed by Ford, no swivel driver's seat and less max GVWR...

Is the living space similar?

[Davydd]

The Transit will best mirror the capabilities and designs of the older Sprinter T1N which I think is a nice sweet spot the Promaster so far seems unable to fill, IMO.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by avanti

Is the living space similar?

Similar to the Sprinter in terms of interior space, I believe the tall Transit has more interior height and the XL Sprinter may have more floor area, not sure about that...

[BBQ]

Here's a comparison.

Got this off the web... I think it is a bit old.

Will search further. Or I will compile a new one.

[BBQ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5LUYrlLRJs

[booster]

Interesting video of Sprinter production.

Some take it as you will observations:

Very surprised at the hand painting of the non-exterior painted surfaces. I didn't think anyone did that any more. Robots are the king of consistent paint coverage, and the hidden areas are probably the most important for corrosion resistance. Humans are very inconsistent at this kind of stuff.

Also surprised to see the robots put adhesive on for the roof panels, and then a human apply a small amount to the panel itself before submitting it to the auto install sled. Looks like an on the fly addressing of a problem like a leak.

The windshield install was interesting in that it looked like a both side gasket, manually applied by a human before going to auto assembly. Very manual install with large forces, atypical of mass production these days due to injury potential. But, there was a dwell time at assembly, so there could also be some adhesive going on (didn't have sound so might have missed something). Every windshield I have seen for the last two decades has been put in with just adhesive.

How many more angles can they show the entire drive train being located under the body? No video of all the humans putting in the bolts to hold it in place downstream.

All and all, it looked like a typical modern vehicle assembly plant. Of course there are some issues addressed inline, and maybe some things that could be improved, but not different that others in most regards.

[wincrasher]

I can't tell you how many hundreds of Promasters I've seen this summer on car carriers - all painted up with US Postal Service and U-Haul branding. Promaster is the lower cost option, and many fleet buyers are going with it.

In RV space, none can compete on price. A Transit conversion cannot compete with it - but it certainly will with Sprinter. Even at equal price, which the chassis is fairly close - there are plenty of buyers that would prefer the gas engine, and the percieved bigger dealer network. My guess though is that the big manufacturers will adjust the vehicle content (equipment, finishes, etc), so that Transit is a mid-price offering and preserve their luxury segment for Mercedes.

FWIW, I have it on good authority that WGO is prepping their Transit production line, and will have prototypes at RV shows soon.

[gregmchugh]

What happened to the group of naysayers who thought that the Transit was a no go for Class B manufacturers??

[BBQ]

A different edit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPNcuQ6Gz0k

[BBQ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a573rgIKvEs

[BBQ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX06otOuCT4

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

In RV space, none can compete on price. A Transit conversion cannot compete with it - but it certainly will with Sprinter. Even at equal price, which the chassis is fairly close - there are plenty of buyers that would prefer the gas engine, and the percieved bigger dealer network.

The gas engine seems like a good choice for the Transit although Leisure Travel decided to go the other way with their Transit, the Wonder, and is building it with a diesel.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

The gas engine seems like a good choice for the Transit although Leisure Travel decided to go the other way with their Transit, the Wonder, and is building it with a diesel.

The diesel is the only viable engine for an RV on the cutaway Transit until Ford offers the EcoBoost gas engine on the cutaway. The gas engine option currently available on the cutaway is not a reasonable choice for an RV which is always near GVWR. That is why you currently only see Transit Class C RVs with Diesel engines.

[mlts22]

There are a couple class "C"s on the Transit gasser, such as a Thor (Coachmen Micro) and Forest River offering... but if you look at them, they don't have any slide-outs, and are aimed at the lower end of the "C" market, while the Winnebago Fuse and Thor Compass/Gemini use the diesel, and are aimed between the Ford E-350/E-450 "C"s and the Sprinters.

I personally wouldn't want to have a non-aspirated Transit "C"... I'd rather go with an Econoline chassis, or wait until the EB is an option.