Who makes the Dodge Sprinter van?
The Dodge Sprinter is a North American badge of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter; the van’s actual maker is Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG). It was marketed under the Dodge name in the United States and Canada from 2003 through 2009. In short, Mercedes-Benz built the vehicle, and Dodge served as the branding for a period in North America.
To understand the full picture, it helps to trace the collaboration behind the Sprinter, how Dodge used the badge in the U.S. market, and how the lineup evolved in the North American van segment. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter remains a core product for MB in many markets, while North American branding shifted toward Ram with the ProMaster in later years.
Origins and partnership
Key facts about the maker and the branding arrangement are laid out in the following list.
- The Dodge Sprinter is a badge-engineered variant of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, produced by Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG).
- In North America, it was sold under the Dodge brand from the 2003 model year through the 2009 model year as a heavy-duty cargo/van option for commercial buyers.
- After Chrysler’s corporate realignment, Dodge-branded vans were phased out in favor of the Ram brand, and the Sprinter’s North American story continued under Mercedes-Benz and, later, through Ram’s ProMaster, which uses Fiat Ducato-based architecture rather than the MB Sprinter platform.
The Dodge Sprinter thus represents a specific period when the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter platform was marketed in the U.S. under the Dodge label, reflecting a broader cross-brand collaboration that has since evolved into separate branding for MB and Ram.
Current state and legacy
Today, Mercedes-Benz continues to offer the Sprinter under its own brand in most markets. In the United States, the Ram ProMaster emerged as the North American alternative for a Fiat Ducato–based van, effectively shifting the commercial-van lineup away from the Dodge badge for that segment. This history clarifies who originally made the Dodge Sprinter and how the market structure has changed since then.
Bottom line and implications for buyers
For buyers and fleet operators, the Dodge Sprinter was a Mercedes-Benz product in Dodge clothing for a defined period. If you’re shopping today, you’ll find the Sprinter sold as a Mercedes-Benz van in most markets, while Ram now offers the ProMaster as the North American alternative built on a different platform. The maker of the core Sprinter technology remains Mercedes-Benz, with brand strategy evolving over time.
Summary
The Dodge Sprinter was built by Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG) and sold under the Dodge name in North America from 2003 to 2009 as a badge-engineered version of the MB Sprinter. Since then, branding shifted in the U.S. market, with Ram ProMaster taking the lead for Dodge/Ram vans and Mercedes-Benz continuing to offer the Sprinter under its own badge in most regions. The Sprinter’s legacy lives on as a product of MB’s collaboration with Chrysler-era branding choices, now reflected in distinct MB and Ram van lineups.
