Mercedes-Benz: future-proof technology, maximum profitability, highest safety levels and a minibus

12.09.2019
  • Mercedes-Benz minibuses: world premiere of the Sprinter Travel 75
  • Mercedes-Benz Citaro: for city bus, read Citaro
  • Mercedes‑Benz Intouro: the favourite for cool calculators
  • Mercedes-Benz Tourismo: the bestselling touring coach celebrates its birthday

Outstanding and future-proof technology, maximum profitability, an unparalleled level of safety and high comfort – this is what the buses from Mercedes‑Benz stand for. As a full-line provider the brand covers the entire spectrum of low-floor city buses through inter-city buses to the touring coaches, flanked by minibuses which also cover the entire range. This is documented by the vehicles exhibited at the Busworld show. This is where Mercedes‑Benz is presenting a representative cross-section of its range in the form of the innovative eCitaro, the versatile Intouro and the Tourismo, which is as profitable as it is safe and comfortable. The Sprinter Travel 75 plays a special role. It is celebrating its world premiere at Busworld. The quartet of buses with the star is uniformly painted in smoke silver metallic at the Busworld show. This colour shade appears elegant and technical in equal measure and perfectly reflects the character of the buses from Mercedes‑Benz.

Mercedes-Benz minibuses: world premiere of the Sprinter Travel 75

The Mercedes‑Benz minibuses on the basis of the Sprinter take a leading role in Europe when it comes to minibuses over 3.5 t permissible gross weight. They supplement the range of large buses from Daimler Buses, so it now includes a complete range for all fields of application. The offering consists of four model series: the specialised Sprinter City covers urban and suburban regular-service, the flexible Sprinter Transfer takes care of inter‑city routes, school bus services, excursions and shuttle services, the Sprinter Mobility represents the transportation of passengers with restricted mobility and the Sprinter Travel tourism. At the Busworld show the Sprinter Travel 75 is celebrating its world premiere; the 8.5 m long minibus is the exclusive face of tourist transportation.

Exclusive engineering: heavy-duty rear axle, own wheelbase

The platform of the Sprinter Travel 75 is the chassis from the Mercedes‑Benz Sprinter, but only up to the B‑pillar. Aft of the B-pillar is a self-supporting integral minibus skeleton. This offers advantages including around ten centimetres more interior width in the passenger compartment than minibuses on the basis of the Sprinter Panel Van. This creates the installation space for the especially comfortable Mercedes‑Benz large bus seats in a 2+1 configuration.

The new city Sprinter Travel 75 is characterised by an autonomous wheelbase of 5100 mm. The permissible gross weight is 6.5 t and offers sufficient reserves for comfort-enhancing equipment, passengers and luggage. The basis of the high permissible gross weight is a high-load rear axle with air suspension developed exclusively for Mercedes‑Benz minibuses.

Unmistakeable design: cab and body merge

The autonomous and extravagantly shaped body of the Sprinter Travel 75 takes the form of the Sprinter. Its panoramic windscreen is also drawn far upwards, underlining the impression of a touring coach. The cab and body merge with one another to form a single unit. The glazing on the body is distinctively arrow-shaped at the front, whilst at the rear the window support climbs aft of the rear axle. This produces an inimitable side line. The side panoramic double glazing features black glass. At the rear a touring coach tail end rounds off the Sprinter Travel 75. The design of the minibus is legally protected. Behind the luggage compartment flap there is a 2.0 m³ stowage space. To the left and right it is supplemented by side stowage spaces with respective capacities of 0.3 m³. The reversing lamps come from the EvoBus range, emphasising the family likeness and simplifying the supply of replacement parts. The exterior panelling in FRP with its perfect fit and smooth surfaces conveys the impression of the high quality level boasted by the Sprinter Travel 75.

Comfortable passenger compartment: seating for 18, seats from the Tourismo

Passengers enter the passenger compartment of the Sprinter Travel 75 through a wide electrically operated outward-swinging door aft of the front axle. The passenger compartment has an impressive bus ceiling. There are integrated luggage shelves with side air ducts and LED light rails.

They include ambient lighting. Service sets with adjustable air outlet vents and LED reading lamps are also part of the equipment.

The standard seating consists of six double seats facing the direction of travel on the left and six individual seats in the direction of travel on the right, amounting to 18 passenger seats. On request up to 21 passenger seats and one co-driver's seat are available. The top-quality 450 mm wide TravelStarXtra (TSX) seats are very familiar from the bestselling Mercedes‑Benz Tourismo touring coach and are available in numerous variants. A further feature of the high level of travel comfort in the Sprinter Travel 75 is the sophisticated heating and climate control: circulating hot-water convectors heat the passenger compartment, as does a hot-water auxiliary heater with a stationary heater function. Also standard is a driver's air conditioning system with an output of 7 kW and the passenger compartment air conditioning with an output of 11 kW in fresh-air and air-recirculation mode. Refreshment is assured, for on request the minibus has a refrigerator in front of the first seat row on the right.

New minibus variants for inter-city and urban transport

The Mercedes‑Benz minibus family is also growing: the inter-city bus Sprinter Transfer 45 and the city bus Sprinter City 45 complement the range of vehicles.

Exemplary cockpit: MBUX multimedia system on request

The cockpit ranges from the functional standard equipment to the multifunction leather steering wheel, a colour display between the clearly arranged instruments as well as a high-resolution display in the area of the centre console, which can be selected in the maximum format of 10.25 inches. The ground-breaking multimedia system Mercedes‑Benz User Experience MBUX is available as an option, including voice control and realtime navigation.

The engine on the basis of the Mercedes‑Benz OM 651 with 2.15 litres displacement is tried and tested. The standard engine output on the Sprinter Travel 75 is 120 kW (163 hp). As an alternative the V6 turbodiesel Mercedes‑Benz OM 642 with 3.0 litres displacement and 140 kW (190 hp), unique in this class, is used. Power transmission to the rear axle is taken care of as standard by the comfortable and economical 7G‑Tronic PLUS automatic transmission with torque converter.

Numerous assistance systems fulfil the high Mercedes‑Benz safety standards. Standard equipment on board alongside ESP with many subfunctions includes Crosswind Assist, Active Brake Assist, start-off assist and the HOLD function. Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC supports the driver as an option. On request the Sprinter Travel is also fitted with the new LED headlamps.

One fundamental advantage of the new Sprinter Travel 75 and all other Mercedes‑Benz minibuses: all bodies, conversions and installations are coordinated and approved by Mercedes‑Benz Vans. All processes in industrial production meet the same high quality standards as Mercedes‑Benz Vans. All minibuses have the full manufacturer's guarantee, extensive documentation and the proven outstanding Omniplus service.

Mercedes-Benz Citaro: for city bus, read Citaro

The low-floor Citaro city bus combines versatility with economical and future‑proof drive technologies, exemplary safety technology, comfort and environmental friendliness. The large number of variants has recently increased even further thanks to the Citaro hybrid – also as the Citaro NGT hybrid with a natural-gas engine – and the fully electrically powered eCitaro. The classic is the 12.14 metre long Citaro solo bus. It is framed by the compact Citaro K and the Citaro G articulated bus. For maximum passenger capacity the four-axle large-capacity CapaCity and CapaCity L buses are recommended; they are derived from the Citaro. The Citaro Ü and Citaro GÜ do the inter-city transport. As a low-entry model the Citaro LE combines the advantages of a barrier-free front section with a high-floor tail end.

The Mercedes‑Benz Citaro is the success story among low-floor buses. The proof: Mercedes‑Benz recently built Citaro number 55,555, 2 years after the premiere of the first-generation low-floor city bus. The anniversary vehicle was an eCitaro, which is currently the focus of attention. Its drive system is built on an electric portal axle with electric motors on the wheel hubs. The peak output of the engines is 2 x 125 kW, the torque at the driven wheels 2 x 11,000 Nm. Lithium-ion batteries with an overall capacity of up to 292 kWh take care of the power supply. They consist of a maximum of twelve modules. Thanks to highly advanced thermal management the eCitaro achieves tremendous energy efficiency.

With the maximum amount of batteries fitted the eCitaro achieves a system‑relevant range of around 170 kilometres, even in difficult conditions, 365 days a year.

With its charging technology the eCitaro can be adapted individually to particular applications. At series introduction it started out with charging via plugs. In future, as announced, it will also be optionally chargeable via a current collector (pantograph) if intermediate charging is required. Initially the eCitaro will now optionally be equipped with an integral current collector. In this case it can be fitted with up to ten battery modules. In 2020, a variant with charging rails on the roof for charging via charging stations with integrated contact arms will be available.

These are examples of the steps in the announced innovation initiative with the eCitaro for rapid and practically-oriented electrification of local public transport with buses in cities and conurbations. The further timetable has been laid out: the next generation of lithium-ion batteries currently used, with a greater capacity, will be made available to customers as early as 2020/2021. During the second half of the year 2020, solid-state batteries with an especially long service life and high energy density will be in use.

The eCitaro family also continues to grow. With the eCitaro G Mercedes‑Benz will extend the range of fully electrically powered eCitaro models to include an articulated bus variant. It meets the requirement for locally emission-free mobility in highly trafficked cities and metropolitan regions with a high volume of passengers and traffic. Subsequently, it is anticipated that the range of the eCitaro will be increased yet again, this time by means of a range extender in the form of a fuel cell for generating electricity from the year 2022. It will be designed to allow the eCitaro to fulfil nearly 100 percent of all requirements on city buses. Intermediate charging is superfluous with this technology – the eCitaro will be able to replace city buses with a combustion engine virtually one to one.

Mercedes‑Benz Intouro: the favourite for cool calculators

Anyone who can add up chooses the Mercedes‑Benz Intouro: the highly profitable and functional inter-city bus is a favourite with keenly calculating bus companies throughout Europe.

A solid technical basis, high reliability, strong price/performance ratio, high overall cost-effectiveness – the Mercedes‑Benz Intouro is made for cool calculators. It covers the entire spectrum from inter-city to factory transport to day trips.

A single-leaf door at the front, single- or twin-leaf central door, an optional lift for wheelchairs, on request a pram or wheelchair space inside, a demountable platform and the choice of overland seating, InterStarEco (ISE), and seating for touring purposes, TravelStarEco (TSE) – Mercedes‑Benz Intouro meets a whole host of requirements. Still it is a true economic miracle. The Intouro is available as a two‑axle model in three lengths. It is driven by compact six-cylinder inline units from the Mercedes‑Benz OM 936 model series with a displacement of 7.7 litres and an output of 220 kW (299 hp)/260 kW (354 hp). There is an especially wide selection when it comes to power transmission: a six‑speed manual transmission, fully automated Mercedes‑Benz GO 250‑8 PowerShift transmission or an automatic transmission with torque converter – the Intouro is also highly flexible in this regard, too.

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo: the bestselling touring coach celebrates its birthday

Congratulations: the touring coach with the star is celebrating a double anniversary this year: presented 25 years ago in its first generation, Mercedes‑Benz has now produced around 30,000 Tourismo touring coaches.

The third generation is now out on the streets of Europe. There were ambitious specifications for the high-decker touring coach from Mercedes‑Benz: maximum economy, safety, functionality and comfort. The result is the Tourismo RHD – a touring coach whose characteristics impress companies, passengers and drivers in equal measure. Its field of possible uses ranges from long-distance bus routes to long-distance tourism and also includes shuttles, day trips and the occasional use on inter-city bus routes. This makes the Tourismo RHD a star in the business segment, which is how Mercedes‑Benz defines this especially wide-ranging field of application for the bus sector.

The Tourismo is a true Mercedes‑Benz: the standard-fit emergency braking assistance system Active Brake Assist 4 (ABA 4), Sideguard Assist, distance control with Stop-and-Go Assist, Attention Assist (AtAs) – just some of the highly advanced safety technology in the new Tourismo RHD. The Tourismo RHD impresses with its high profitability. The basis for this is the six‑cylinder inline Mercedes‑Benz OM 470 with a displacement of 10.7 litres. The new top-of-the-line engine variant delivering 335 kW (456 hp) combines high driving dynamics with low fuel consumption. The compact six-cylinder inline Mercedes‑Benz OM 936 with 7.7 litre displacement and an output of 260 kW (354 hp) is available as special equipment. It combines low consumption with low weight. Five output categories are available to choose from in total.

Handling fuel economically is not just theory, it is practised by the Tourismo. This was proven by the "EcoChamp 2018" consumption competition: the top result for use by bus drivers in touring operations in real conditions was under 20 litres/100 km for the two-axled Tourismo. On the three-axled Tourismo L it was virtually 22 litres/100 km – across 94,000 km with 24 drivers. The campaign is currently continuing in many European markets as "EcoChamp 2019".

A high-deck touring coach is an investment item for a company and a driver's place of work. They both call for maximum functionality. The Tourismo RHD lives up to this aspiration thanks to its modular system. With four models in three different lengths, ranging from 12.3 m to 14.0 m, and a choice of either a two- or three-axle variant, the high-decker has something to suit almost any requirements. All models are optionally available with either left- or right-hand drive.

Advance compliance with new fire protection standard UN ECE-R 118.02 for buses

For Daimler Buses optimum safety is a fundamental value and adherence to the legal requirements is a natural obligation. For this reason, all affected interior materials of the Mercedes-Benz and Setra bus and coach brands are currently being tested and, if necessary, redesigned. That is why Daimler Buses is already offering its customers a considerable part of its optional interior collection in accordance with the regulations that will be mandatory as of July 2020. Further materials will follow as soon as possible, in as far as it is technically feasible.

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