Larger Than Life

Is India ready for the luxury MPV? We spend a couple of days with the new V-Class to find out.

- Samarpan Bhowmik

The MPV segment in India has been witness to plenty of drama. While there was a time when everyone from Chevrolet to Nissan had a product in the space, it was the Toyota Innova which weathered the storm and ruled the roost for the longest time. Most manufacturers gave up on the segment as a tough nut to crack and pulled out. But this being the Indian passenger vehicle market, things didn’t stay the same for too long. Recently again, there has been a resurgence in MPVs with Tata launching the Hexa, Toyota bringing in an all new version of the Innova and most recently, Mahindra introducing the Marazzo. Of course, with the mass market players making their moves, how could luxury manufacturers keep their fingers out of this pie? So, into this scenario, Mercedes brought its V-Class.

Now the current-generation V-Class has been on sale in international markets since 2014. Of course, Mercedes probably shied away from bringing it here after the forgettable experience with the R-Class launched here in 2011. But now, with the MPV segment heating up again, it’s mustered up courage enough to launch the V-Class.

So, to evaluate the first proper luxury MPV in India in a while, we set out for a popular tourist destination some 250km from Mumbai. Driving this mammoth vehicle within the city, surprisingly, was not as difficult as I had expected it to be. Yes, it’s enormous, yes, it’s heavy. But the steering is light and accurate, and manoeuvring it through traffic is quite a breeze. The turning radius is something that should be mentioned; it’s better than what some SUVs which are two-thirds its size can manage. As for ride, it took everything Mumbai could throw at it (we have bad roads of numerous kinds) perfectly composed, without really making life uncomfortable for occupants.