Oh I agree with that. The R-class very deliberately did not have sliding doors so that people wouldn't call it a van, because van = sales poison. Instead they called it a large crossover SUV that "defied convention". In form and function it was a big, tall family truckster anyway, no matter what they called it, and sales were poor anyway.
The idea that if Mercedes-Benz made something that more readily embraced a "minivan" identity or conventionality it would sell better is... reaching. Vans are a dying segment. The R-class was not marketed as a van precisely so that it wouldn't be perceived as part of that dying segment, even though frankly it was. People saw through the marketing and forgot all about the R-class while they happily bought Ms and GLs instead. It was a waste of time and money, and trying to make a Viano/V-class a "thing" in North America is a foolish waste of time.
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