Mercedes-Benz secures Australia Post contract

Australia Post has inked a deal with Mercedes-Benz that will see the mail and parcel delivery service secure 1300 new light commercial vehicles.

The arrangement will serve as a sizeable boost for Mercedes-Benz Vans Australia, which has effectively won back the contract it lost to Renault five years ago.

The influx of Mercedes-Benz Vito medium vans will take place in coming months, says Australia Post, with the heavily-updated Sprinter following from the beginning of next year.

Safety and a simplification of the driving task were said to be prime factors that helped seal the contract. All the vehicles concerned will feature automatic transmissions and a healthy array of safety features, including pre-collision alert and front and side airbags.

"At Australia Post our number-one priority is the safety of our people, which is why the Vito and Sprinter models have been chosen for our new fleet of vans and pickup and delivery trucks," said James Dixon, General Manager Transport and Air Networks for Australia Post.

"The new vans also provide a 'car-like' driving experience, helping Australia Post drivers to navigate through peak-hour traffic and narrow streets with ease when delivering to homes and businesses."

According to Diane Tarr, CEO and Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Vans Australia, the contract has come at an ideal time, given the looming introduction of the heavily updated Sprinter.

"We are proud to partner with such an iconic brand in Australia Post to bring the latest and best of our market-leading Sprinter and Vito range to Australian roads," she said.

"Having such a strategic partner to help us launch the new Sprinter at the end of this year, and possibly bring new features to life in the future like Mercedes PRO Connect integrated fleet management system and our e-Drive electric powered vans, ensures Mercedes-Benz Vans and Australia Post continue to drive innovation in the e-commerce delivery industry."

Mercedes-Benz Vans is investing heavily in the research and development of connected technologies aimed at streamlining the efficiency of road freight, across the light, medium and heavy commercial spheres.

The new Sprinter, revealed to international press in Germany last February, benefits from a raft of technological updates, including eight telematics-based offerings under the banner of Mercedes PRO and the smartphone app-based Mercedes PRO Connect. First shipments of the updated model are expected to arrive in the last quarter of 2018.

The smaller Vito, meanwhile, was updated in mid-2015 and also features a host of passive and active safety systems spanning pre-collision alert, blind-spot monitoring, brake assist, crosswind assist, fatigue monitoring and more.

At the time of the launch Mercedes-Benz Vans billed the model as "quite possibly the world's safest office", at least when most of the optional safety system boxes are ticked.

Australia Post says its National Fleet Manager, Terry Bickerton, will work directly with the Mercedes-Benz Future Transport System team to further enhance delivery processes and driver safety.

It's understood the pairing will, in time, also involve the trialing of the recently announced electric-only eSprinter.

The Australia Post deal should Mercedes-Benz maintain the stranglehold it has held on the local large van market for many years.

Latest VFACTS data shows the Sprinter currently enjoys a market share of 35.4 per cent (discounting the light truck models that also populate the category). That's more than the combined total of the second-placed Renault Master (18.2 per cent) and third-placed Iveco Daily (16.0 per cent).

However, the situation isn't quite so rosy for Mercedes-Benz Vito. It currently has a 5.6 per cent market share of the medium van market – some way off the market-leading Toyota HiAce (33.7 per cent) and the second-placed Hyundai iLoad (24.1 per cent).