When we heard Renntech had turned its attentions to the Mercedes-Benz Metris van, we expected something extreme and maybe exciting. The Florida-based aftermarket tuner made its name building ridiculously quick variants of Mercedes-Benz and AMG cars and has since used its expertise to create a couple of impressive one-off Mercedes-Benz vans, including the Sprinter Extreme concept from last year’s Chicago auto show and the Metris-based flared DJ Van from the 2014 SEMA show. Alas, Renntech’s hit-streak appears to have come to an end, as the firm’s Metris MasterSolutions Toolbox concept, displayed at the 2017 Chicago auto show, looks like a toy built for a giant child who spends too much time watching Bob the Builder.
Created to showcase Mercedes-Benz MasterSolutions, an upfit program designed to assist Metris and Sprinter buyers in tailoring their work vans to suit the particular needs of their businesses, the Mercedes-Benz Metris MasterSolutions Toolbox concept includes a host of worksite-friendly features beneath its vinyl-wrapped matte finish and an array of tacky plastic body add-ons that leave the poor thing looking like a victim of Proteus syndrome, the disease believed to have afflicted Elephant Man John Merrick.
As a showcase for MasterSolutions, the Toolbox concept does a good job of featuring the program’s wide variety of shelves, racks, and removable cases for the cargo hold, installed aft of a custom-built clear plastic partition that separates the van’s passenger compartment from the workspace. A removable tile floor system provides extra grip for the boots of individuals making use of these storage features. The obnoxious blue cladding, blue wheels, and that goofy blue handle atop the roof look ungainly at best, but we’ll tip our hats to the van’s roof-hinged side panel that opens up like—you guessed it—a toolbox.
For all its frumpy looks, the Mercedes-Benz Metris MasterSolutions Toolbox concept shows off a number of impressive features that can be installed in new Metris and Sprinter vans, which was the mission here. With any luck, Renntech will take whatever earnings it made on this project and invest in something more in line with its own corporate mission of “performance without compromise.”
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