Mercedes-Benz unveiled two concepts for its mid-sized pickup, dubbed the X-Class, in Stockholm, Sweden today. The event was live-streamed across the globe and, at thirteen minutes in, two gussied up Nissans took the stage.
The premiere spent painfully little time giving up details on what the X-Class would offer. Instead, we were given a discussion on a vehicle that can apparently conquer the urban frontier as well as rugged landscapes. The trucks were kitted out in “stylish explorer” and “powerful adventurer” trims — the latter coming with off-road tires, a winch, and a electric gold paint.
During the event, Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche proclaimed his love for pickups and admitted that the unveiling of the X-Class prototype was an “emotional” experience for him. He went on to say that he had long discussions during his DaimlerChrysler days on the level of luxury an American pickup truck should possess and consulted a “tough old ranger” on the subject of exactly how a pickup differs from a car.
Zetsche says that Mercedes wanted to bring a truck to market for the type of consumer who may want to “shovel snow, tug boats, or appear at the opera house.”
It’s a premium urban lifestyle truck. And similar to the Lincoln Blackwood, it’s likely to come to market as regular work truck with a redone face and new amenities tacked on. While this didn’t work for the Blackwood, which lasted a single model year, it might for the X-Class if done inconspicuously enough.
Clearly, Mercedes is just trying to expand their portfolio and reach into a untapped market as quickly as possible. The presentation even included several minutes spent on how the X-Class would reach new customer groups previously unavailable to the brand. The aim is to use the truck platform used on the Nissan Navara — the Frontier in North America — and create a premium truck that can outmatch the competition in capability, comfort, and safety.
The press release was a little more forthcoming with the finer details. The automaker claims that the X-Class interior will offer familiar interior design elements from both the C-Class and the Metris van. Top-of-the-line models should see a diesel V6 mated with 4Matic permanent all-wheel drive. The all-wheel-drive system combines an electronic traction system, a transfer case with reduction gear, and two differential locks. Under extreme off-road conditions, the rear differential and the inter-axle differential can be locked.
A ladder-type frame offers a 1.1 ton payload and a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tons. The X-Class will also include assistance systems based on cameras, radar and ultrasound sensors. That means enhanced cruise control features and parking assist.
If any of that sounds good to you, that’s tough luck for now. Mercedes-Benz made no mention of North America. The key markets will be Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and Europe starting late next year.
[Images: Mercedes-Benz]
I guess if you’re already paying 50k$ for a pickup truck you might as well get a Mercedes.
Yes, might as well buy a Nissan with unique styling and a envy-worthy badge. Lol
@JohnTaurus_3.0_AX4N
Than you do not get the V6 Diesel. It will be interesting to see how MB market this.
Johnny,
Rumours abound AMG will take to the X Class, it is expected to be in the AUD $80k brackey.
Also from what I’ve read pretty much the chassis and shell will be “Nissan”.
I’ll be after a new off roader by the time this is released. I would consider one, especially the AMG. I can easily imagine AMG pulling 300hp and 500ftlb from a 3 litre V6 diesel.
300HP / 500 TQ seems a bit low honestly. Audi’s SQ5 already has a 340 HP / 516 TQ 3.0L turbodiesel V6 in the “plus” version.
Or if you are spending 50k get an actual truck with actual capability
I’m surprised its not a CLA truck.
Yeah, a little 2-door with backwards seats in the bed.
Behold, the Bratwurst.
Better trademark the name before Daimler does.
Now THAT’s a name for an overcompensation-mobile. (“Check out my Bratwurst!”)
Grille emblem too small…..it can’t be seen from outer space.
You can always opt for the LED backlit logo that can actually be seen from space.
This thing is funny for markets that get the Navara because aside from the nose and badges, everything about it screams Navara.
So save your money and go get a D23? Or the Ranger 3.2 – or my favorite, the Nissan Navara STX550 twin turbo 3.0 v6 which is what we call a “USP”… in a sea of fours, the V6 is king.
@TonyJZX
That Navara had to drop that engine because it did not meet Euro 6 standards. Now the 2.3 is a two stage turbo engine, that does a pretty reasonable job. Still it might be left wanting on engine braking, that is where the V6 3 litre engines by both VW and MB come in. Although the VW is to be introduced due to emission worries.
I guess bumpers and foot rails will be optional? I think an suv variant of this would sell better.
@Ryoku75
They already do SUV’s I wonder if BMW, will offer a ” 1 Tonne” a pickup as the class is called.Minium Payload,2,200lb, towing 7,700lb
I can already see the auto journos ready to talk about the “E46 reminiscent” handling, and whatever else gets them free trips.
“Zetsche says that Mercedes wanted to bring a truck to market for the type of consumer who may want to ‘shovel snow, tug boats, or appear at the opera house.\'”
Who doesn’t love to tug on their boat?
@Adam Tonge
Depends who you get too tug your boat HA HA. Still Europeans will not be the primary audience for this , will sell some though. Everywhere else except NA, will be the primary markets
Europe may not be the primary but it may be more important than you think. I recently enjoyed a business trip to Caen, France last month and on the roads there I saw about 7 or 8 pickup trucks, which is 7 or 8 more than I expected to see. I mentioned it over dinner with my business contact. He said that 10 years ago there likely wasn’t a pickup in all of France but within 10 years they have become a little more popular. They aren’t likely to dominate the market but they aren’t the oddities that they used to be.
I saw:
3 VW Amaroks
1 or 2 Isuzu D-Max’s *
1 Chevrolet Colorado
2 Nissan Navarras (our Frontier)
* This is where the uncertainty is. I passed a silver Isuzu D-Max on the A13. Then I pulled over for gas, or sans plomb** as its known over there. When I got back on the road I eventually passed a silver Isuzu, and logically it was the same one but I swear it looked a little different.
** Footnote on a footnote! holy footnotes, Batman!!! In French diesel is “gasoil” and gasoline is “sans plomb”. If you have the privilege to visit France and you pull up to a gas station and you have rented a gasoline car, do NOT pick the one which starts with the word “gas”! Because that would be horribly wrong. No I did not do this, I just can see where that mistake is easy to make.
DevilsRotary86,
Izuzu had by far the largest pickup dislay at the Paris Var Show, with at least 12 Dmax’s.
Ford was not represented at the show. I fond this odd as I sae more Rangers in Paris than all the other pickups combined.
C’mon Dr. Z they’ll want them in the Big D!
What is a “ladder-type” frame?
@86er
BOF Frame, not unibody
Dergrossepickuplastwagen.
I was searching a phone app in my German night class for “pickup truck” and all it had was “Pritschenwagen”. My teacher got a big laugh from that and said it was not only hugely antiquated but usually just meant a big flatbed truck.
Subsequent searching of better dictionaries hasn’t turned up anything better. I don’t think the Heinies have yet bothered to give a name to them a name beyond borrowing “Pick-Up”.
Even VW’s .de website calls their Amarok a “Pickup.”
I hear Germans call smart phones “Handy” and pens “Kugli” so maybe it’s just as well they keep the English or they’ll decide on something like “Rüpli”.
In German, it’s “Pick-up” with the hyphen.
In Spanish, it’s “pickup” (no hyphen).
In France, it’s “pick-up” (with the hyphen), but it’s “camion” in Quebec. Oddly enough, the breakaway speakers can be more linguistically pure than their forefathers.
The Quebecois French hasn’t evolved as much as their Parisian counterparts.
The best German dictionary I’ve found is dict.leo.org
Europe? I can’t see M-B selling many of these there.
My experience there is extremely limited. But during a full week in Prague last year, I saw exactly *zero* pickup trucks while traveling all over the city. In my neighborhood, probably 1 in 5 homes has a truck.
@SCE to AUX
I saw seven Pickups including a Dodge Ram after going through 8 countries. Europe has a major problem with personal use Pickups.
Funny enough, after my father retired from 27 years of active duty service, he returned to Germany as a civil servant. My parents lived in a small community/village near Sembach back in the mid 90s. His last vehicle purchase before he passed away in 1997 was a bright red 1996 Dodge Ram, resplendent with chrome wheels and appropriately high off the ground as it was a 4×4. The amount of finger and nose smudges on his windows were near-comical as Bubba (the name we gave the beast) wouldn’t fit in the garage, so everybody in the village would stop and check it out when they walked by. He loved that truck and I wish I had kept it after he passed. I’d venture to guess from my time back and forth in Europe (and Germany specifically) that a large majority of the few trucks you see over there are owned by servicemembers and/or gov civilians.
Maybe they just don’t know they need them because they haven’t been available… I’m sure most of yurop laughed at SUVs and crossovers, but who is laughing now? Next up for adoption, automatic transmissions…
@Tinn-Can
SUV’s make sense for them as they are” 4 by 4’s”, not Pickups. Still they do not use a lot of vehicles Off Road,but interestingly they do build Off Road Heavy Trucks and Vans
There are few pickup trucks in Europe for two very good reasons.
The first is that in North America, pickups are used for a blend of passenger and cargo vehicles. This means they are compromised as either.
Europeans use cars for passenger vehicles. For cargo they use flat-front box vans and flatbeds, vans like the “Sprinter”, and small box trucks.
Europeans have never mixed up their utility vehicles with ego problems, as many North Americans do. They also have less need to tow dwellings about, preferring to vacation by driving their nice cars to more spacious, cheaper, stationary dwellings such as hotels.
As for laughing at them, they’re starting a conversion from diesels to hybrids, and will have the last laugh over North Americans. The version of automatic transmissions in hybrids are more efficient than old-fashioned manuals or automatics that are seldom in the ideal ratio.
@brandloyalty
You have that partly right. Yes they do have bragging rights when it come to HDT Trucks. Rush to hybrids? Contrary to what you thing they like to tow reasonably heavy loads, either using a Cab Chassis variation of a Van or many of the trucks that they use. You will see SUV’s and even cars towing as well
Euro here. Personal use of pickups is very limited. Ford sells the Ranger but its sales are a footnote compared to things like chassis cab Transit pickups ( https://en.wheelsage.org/ford/transit/v/30374/pictures/157749/ ) which is entirely utilitarian and only used by construction crews etc. Not something you’d want to be seen in on friday night.
From what I saw in the US, Americans don’t drive vans as personal transportation in the same way they do pickups, despite their similiar loading and towing capacity, with the added benefit of your stuff not getting wet in the rain. The reason Americans don’t drive vans is probably the same as why Euros don’t drive pickups (i.e. mostly image related)
“From what I saw in the US, Americans don’t drive vans as personal transportation in the same way they do pickups.”
Minivans were and to an extent still are common daily-drivers here but that has tremendously declined over the past couple of decades with their profound bloating and the growing predominance of mid-sized SUVs.
More than ever, “minivans” of nearly BOF service-van size have become just as much special-use vehicles as their BOF counterparts and are an excellent way to spot right-to-lifers.
“The reason Americans don’t drive vans is probably the same as why Euros don’t drive pickups (i.e. mostly image related)”
There was a time when large vans were relatively popular for personal use. (Search the internet for “conversion vans” to see what some of them were like.) In essence, they were larger US alternatives to the VW microbus/Kombi. But fashions change, and those are now a rarity.
SCE to AUX,
I went to the Paris Car Show and I saw Raptors, Rams on display. Oh and some XLT dual cabs.
In Paris I only saw few midsizers, but putside of Paris they are marginally more common.
I’m in Spain at the moment and I have yet to see pickup of any sort.
MB? No… Slap a Mazda logo on it and we are good to go…
That wouldn’t be a bad idea, Nissan/Mazda have worked in the past on a few cars.
@Ryoku75
Mazda and Isuzu,will pair up for their next batch of Pickups. Ford has been divorced from Mazda
Keep going with that silver one’s emblem and turn it into a nose cone like a Studebaker Champion.
Get a set of metric truck nutz, a “Tin Tin pissin’ on BMW” sticker and the latest cd from the best C&W group in the Rheinland Pfalz, “Truck Stop,” and I’m there.
This is the second time in one day that TTAC authors feel the need to somehow work “Rhineland” into a title.
Please stop it. Neither Benz nor BMW are anywhere near there; Swabia and Bavaria are where it’s at. And if you don’t know your German provinces, no problem. Just don’t mention them.
Heh… simmer down, Gauleiter, it’s just a play on “Rhinestone Cowboy”, a popular American song circa 1975 by Glen Campbell.
Now I can’t get it out of my head.
Your observation doesn’t seem to jive with the fact that one of the largest truck manufacturing plants in Europe is the Daimler-Benz plant in Wörth (Rheinland Pfalz).
Source: Relative interned there, landlord worked there, I used to cut-the-rug at the A65 disco in Kandel, other mundane life experiences, etc.
Official source:
http://www.emercedesbenz.com/autos/mercedes-benz/classic/mercedes-benz-history-the-worth-truck-plant-in-germany/
You guys who continually complain about the weekend warriors and penicularly challenged guys driving American pickups, just wait to see the douches and douchettes who’ll be driving this thing should it ever make it to North America.
It might be sold in Canada someday, but there’s no “clucking” way it’ll ever be imported into the US.
@kvndoom
Canada will be also off the table. If you do not get the NP300 Navara, then you will be not getting this
@Brumus
It is not making it to NA. It will be in two versions, a luxury and Off a Road version. Has a 2,400lb payload for the dual cab and can tow 3.5 Tonne, 7,700lb
The Navara was never aimed at US crash standards or emissions. Mercedes has no intentions of selling a pickup in the US or it would be a Frontier rebadge and built in Tennessee.
Needs bigger wheels. (/s)
If anything like Sprinter utility the transmission will shift like sxxt with serious turbo lag. The magnetic locks will need to be reprogrammed – no its not the fob battery…
Beasty boys will pry off badges with jagged hunting knives.
Well, I had to wonder the first time i visited Germany to see more than a handful of big grilled vehicles there with horseshoes affixed to the grille with the proper concavity pointing upwards. The only other time I has seen such a thing was on Texas Pickup trucks. Maybe there are a few subterranean roots running between Swabia and Bavaria and Texas.
“Mercedes Trucks – Built Drugstore Cowboy Tough”.
The same a**hole who buys a Donzi boat is the same a**hole who tows it with this thing.
Maybe some lowlife a**hole car salesperson will sell them.
Is a Donzi better/different/etc than a Scarab?