Last word I've heard is that the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter will also be
sold as a Dodge, replacing their current van platform (which predates
our T3 Vanagons by several years!)
����-Mike Moery
     Anchorage, AK
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 'Ol Bessie  '82TD Westy

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Barry E. Muller
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 6:34 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: History of Westfalia-Werke

I dunno about the Marco Polo (Saw one in Germany last Spring - sweet!),
but
last weekend I was at the fabulous Toledo Auto Show ;-) and the MB rep
said
that Mercedes will be selling a van in the US this Sept. based on the
Sprinter/Vito platform.  Well you can take that for what it is worth, my
experience is the dealership guys are always the last to know (At least
at
VW).  I asked if he had heard if the CDI engine was an option being
discussed.
No word on that though (and he would want to know as he drives a TDI
Jetta).
He did say they'd "Americanize" it though.  I wasn't too keen on that
bit of
news as I think the current Vito is a particularly handsome van.  But
hopefully
they won't make it look like a Ford Windscar with all sorts of unneeded
junk
such as 10 TVs and 6 VCRs, 500 cup holders, ... etc and fake wood
molding with
a deep pile carpet to match.

bem

Sean Garrett wrote:

> Try this link for the Mercedes conversion... SWEET
> I inquired as to the avail in the US...NADA from Mercedes USA... that
sucks.
>
> http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/rv/marcopolo/photo1.htm
>
> Sean Garrett
> 1981 Westy (his)
> 1995 Eurovan Camper (hers)
> sean.garrett@asu.edu
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Richard Golen [mailto:rgolen@UMASSD.EDU]
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 11:52 AM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: History of Westfalia-Werke
> >
> >
> > I toured the Westfalia-werke last summer. They are still
> > converting VW vans
> > and chassis into campers. However they weren't sure how long
> > that was going
> > to last as Westfalia has been purchased by Daimler Chrysler.
> > The business
> > apparently had been going down hill for a while.
> >  From what I was told DC wants to dump VW and Ford from
> > Westfalia so that
> > Westfalia will produce Mercedes-Benz based units. However, there
isn't
> > enough income yet to justify the switch.
> >