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Citan will thrust Mercedes-Benz into the compact van segment.

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As incongruent as it may seem given the three-pointed star's prestige luxury car image, Mercedes-Benz also has a strong presence in the commercial van field with its Vito and Sprinter.

Yet the company has had no presence in the compact van segment and that's set to change later this year when Mercedes-Benz releases its Citan urban delivery van.

Designed for the “rough and tumble of everyday working life”, its name is derived from the words “City” and “Titan.”

The van, which should look very similar to what you see in the official sketches here, promises to fit a generous load compartment within compact dimensions. It also promises low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from a range of petrol and diesel engines and there will also be a BlueEfficiency package and, later on, a battery-powered version.

As with the larger Vito and Sprinter vans, Citan will be available in a wide range of body styles, lengths and payload capacities when it goes on sale in Europe during the third quarter of this year.

Mercedes-Benz also assures us that it was developed and tested to the same standards as its larger Sprinter and Vito siblings and is in no way inferior to these.

Finally, safety was also of prime importance when developing this compact and features such as ESP stability control will be standard across the board.