>From "Automobile" March '95: Update: 1997 Mercede-Benz Sport-Ute. "We hope to be first on the market with a crossbreed between an off-roader and a minivan" says Andreas Renschler, the young shooting star who heads Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, the Alabama production facility that will produce an off-roader in 1997. The all-activity vehicle (AAV) initially will be available only with four doors and a metal top. Mercedes has chosen traditional body-on-frame construction for the AAV; howerver, unlike most sport-utility vehicles, it will ride on a four-wheel independent suspension. Like the Range Rover, it will have full-time four wheel drive. Stuttgart sources say the engines will come from Germany - probably a 3.2 liter V-6 tuned for bottom-end torque and 200 bhp, followed by a larger V-6 and a V-8 at the top of the line. Versions sold in the United States will initially be equipped solely with five-speed automatics. Production at the brand-new assembly site near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will start in January 1997, and output is going to be close to 70,000 a year. Prices will range from the low $30,000s to the low $40,00s. Mercedes hasn't yet decided on a name for its $300 million baby, but the sales and marketing director promised former Alabama governor Jim Folsom that the first AAV off the line will be badged the Folsom. -Georg Kacher
What about that Joel!? Alistair
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