According to this post from "The Sprinter Guy", we won't see 4x4 Sprinters any time soon.
http://sprinterguy.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... -carolina/
I Just Returned From The Sprinter Managers Meeting In South Carolina.
May 17, 2012 by Dave Graham
Three very fast moving days with the head of Sprinter USA and his staff, along with about 200 Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner Sprinter Sales Mgrs or Salesmen from all over the USA.
I will post more details about what we learned at the meetings, but I wanted to just let all of my readers know the highlights of what is to come in 2013 and beyond.
Before I give you the news, let me say that Daimler is looking to be at 10% market share with the current Sprinter products that we offer. We are near that right now, and with the production capability they have, they will not be looking to make huge changes in product to “Sell More Sprinters”. With that said, any and all product changes are going to be very slow in coming to us, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see what you would like to see in this product. They are on their pace.
First of all for 2013, there will be no change in the product or content at all.
We will begin ordering 2013 models on July 1st with passenger vans and crew vans coming in late October and cargo vans coming in November. The last orders for 2012 production will be June 30th. 2014 model year will come sometime around late summer of 2013. Here we will see a facelift on the front of the current Sprinter Van. There will be a standard 4cyl turbo diesel engine with the 7 speed automatic transmission. The V6 and 5 speed automatic will be the option. Looks like there will be a factory navigation/back up camera option at that point.
4 wheel drive, well, it’s not going to happen until Daimler in Germany make it an affordable option. At this point for what the cost to do a 4matic would be, it doesn’t make any sense at all. They have not ruled out trying to figure out something, but at this point, there is no 4 wheel drive option coming for sure.
Then in 2016 we will have the smaller mid size van, currently called the Vito in Europe, here as a smaller Sprinter Van.
So this may not be what some of you want to hear about future products, and yes you might even read on the internet that the 4 wheel drive Sprinter is a go. Trust me, it is not going to happen soon, if at all. But what I will be posting later is some cool information about a test ride opportunity to see how the standard Mercedes-Benz safety features work to make the Sprinter van the safest large van to put your family in.
Stayed tuned….
Dave, the Sprinter Guy. .