Recently, I received an email from a friend, with this picture followed by a number of question marks. He couldn’t believe that Mercedes was making a pickup. He has a relative that lives in Switzerland and she spotted this Mercedes X250D on the road. Seeing as these were just launched at the end of 2017, they are likely still an uncommon sight.
Nissan Navara
I had heard of that Daimler-Benz was developing a pickup some time ago, but to be honest hadn’t really followed it all that closely. Mercedes has been making capable SUV’s for some time, and has a long history making large trucks, including the go-anywhere Unimog. So it doesn’t seem like building a smaller pick-up would fall too far outside its expertise. However, in this case, the new X-class pickup is actually just a re-worked Nissan Navara. The Navara is the European market’s follow-up to the Frontier that we still get in North America.
To be fair it is more than a typical rebadge, as Mercedes had specific benchmarks in place to improve upon the Nissan basis. The truck had to meet Mercedes ride and handling standards, while still retaining its utilitarian abilities. The X-Class shares the same ladder frame as the Navara, including its rear coil spring suspension. However, the X-class has a wider track and Mercedes engineers retuned the suspension to closer align with their standards.
There is no shared sheet metal between the two trucks despite the fact they share the same assembly line. The X-class has a wider body and track width, a full 2.8 inches, compared to the Nissan. The extra width results in a slightly larger cabin. Of course, being a Mercedes, there is additional sound insulation, and added reinforcements including an additional chassis cross-member. Critics have quipped that there are a number of interior parts that are shared with the Nissan, and they don’t quite live up to Mercedes standards.
Powertrain options are mostly supplied by Nissan. They include the entry level X220d that uses a 2.3L Nissan 4 cylinder turbo diesel, pumping out 161 hp and 297 ft-lbs of torque. Next up is the X250D which uses a 2.3L turbo diesel, making 197 hp and 332 ft-lbs of torque. Later in the year, Mercedes plans to launch an X350d variant, which will use Mercedes own 3.0L turbo Diesel V6, rated at 254 hp and 406-ft-lbs of torque. Of note, some markets will have a 2.0L naturally aspired gasoline powered 4 cylinder model, dubbed the X200. With an automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, Mercedes claims the X250D has a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time of sedate 11.8 seconds.
A slide in camper concept
The X-Class has a base price of more than 37,000 Euros in Germany. Adding a few options on to that can quickly increase the price. At the present there are no plans to launch the X-Class pickups in North America, despite automakers seemingly having more interest in the mid-size pickups as of late. Perhaps it’s a wise move, since North Americans are decidedly loyal to North American-branded pickups.
…I am shocked these exist. I’ve been living under a rock.
Despite my alarm it’s been obvious you could swap Mercedes badges onto many Nissan/Honda/GM models with no other changes, and “high-end” buyers would not know the difference. “Cheap” cars are now gadget-filled, quiet, smooth, and pillow-soft enough I can’t imagine the sort of person who wants more; and Modern Benzes are as plasticky as any other car, up to their more “exclusive” models.
Luxury is really a diluted thing nowadays; token RWD that makes no handling difference; token stitching here and there. One new gadget that breaks as soon as the warranty is over. Done.
It has been interesting that US pickup buyers seem to have been more or less immune to the need for a luxury nameplate. The occasional stab at a pickup with a Cadillac or Lincoln badge has not been successful while the same pickup with a GMC or Ford name sells very well, even when equipped and priced in Cad/Lincoln territory.
I had no idea these existed. It will be interesting to see how well they are received.
You are correct that the US pickup buyers are immune to needing a luxury badge, but I wonder if that will still apply when it carries the MB cache that is so vogue right now. The Cadillac “pickup” was an Escalade with a puny bed, so it really was more like an expensive Explorer Sportrac than a pickup. The Lincoln was so obviously an F150 with a Lincoln badge that it hurt. At least a GMC version has only a slightly higher cost over a Chevy, while the Lincoln added a significant premium with no features or options not available on a less-costly F150. But, since the public eats up Land Rovers, Porsche Cayennes, and MB SUVs like candy, I can see where the nouveau riche would gladly trade in a F150 on a Merc, even a Nissan rebadge one.
Let’s not forget that the most expensive pickup at the time in the Ford lineup wasn’t the Lincoln. It was the King Ranch version of the Ford, which outsold the Lincoln by a huge margin. The joke at the time was even Ford knew what the top of that product line was… and it wasn’t the Lincoln.
Imagine the shock Daimler product planners had when they discovered, through owners surveys, that Dodge Ram owners would never accept a MB diesel under the hood of their pickups. To Daimlers credit, they didn’t fix what wasn’t broken.
i don’t know much about pickups but i do know marketing. luxury is the wrong “lifestyle” for the pickup consumer. in what’s known as aspirational marketing, the pickup image is tough and practical . that’s ford branding not lincoln. that’s why a luxury pickup will work if it’s branded harley davidson or king ranch.
Define “luxury”.
That concept has been changing for a long time. Call it “aspirational”. Os a Land Cruiser a “luxury car”? A Range Rover? I could go on. It’s not like in the 60s when it was easier to define.
Was a Mercedes W123 240D a luxury car?
I’d say in a way, the pick-ups in the US don’t suffer from the stigma of being associated to a specific socio-economic class. A Ford F-150 today is kind of like a Country Squire from days past. It can easily be in a working class neighborhood or parked next to Mercedes in a high end neighborhood. Obviously the fact that there is so many variations of the truck helps.
Mercedes-Benz and Renault-Nissan-Infiniti are friends. Mercedes-Benz uses the 1.6 liter Renault diesel, Infiniti uses Benz diesels and the C-segment Infiniti Q30 is fully based on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
There’s more, like the Mercedes-Benz Citan panel van below, which is a rebadged Renault Kangoo.
And let’s not forget the Alaskan, Renault’s interpretation of the Nissan Navara.
I once said as a joke then this is the Cimmaron counterpart of Mercedes-Benz. 😉
Hey Paul give me a Metris anytime over this … GL
Is there no imagination left in this world? in a world of boring and bland looking cars that all look a like anyway…..a company like mercedes cant design their own pick up truck. and honestly……….why would they,they are slowly removing the shine from the 3 pointed star. i miss the days when i as a 14 year old would go to the new car dealers to catch a glimpse of the new models that would come out in september. that was in the 70’s 80,s and 90’s. now its not even worth it and certainly nothing to get excited about.
Navara is a very old Nissan badge it dates back to the 80s here,Mercedes must have noticed the VW Amarok sales and needed a me too ute.
Another example of Mercedes cheapening its brand. Indeed, Mercedes could have developed its own pickup after having built trucks for so many years. Since BMW is associated with Toyota on a couple of projects, can we look out for a BMW pickup based on the Hilux next? I wonder if this Navara in drag will be another market failure like the Aston Martin Cygnet and the Lincoln Blackwood.
At least the blackwood had some class!!!
That was my first thought. And yet, they widened the cab for more room. That’s luxury in my book.
No shared sheet metal? What a shame it looks so similar. They could at least have got rid of the kickup in the back door’s window line; that would go a long way to disguising the base vehicle. I guess they must share an inner door panel and glass.
Markets where the Navara is popular (Australia…) will spot the Nissan heritage instantly and dismiss it as a mere rebadge.
And yet, they widened the cab for more room.
There’s no facts I can find to support that claim. I’ve just visited several websites. The X Class is wider at the mirrors by 28 cm. And has a wider track. But I never believed they actually widened the body, and someone is going to have to give me very hard evidence if that’s really the case.
Widening the body would be a lot of work/cost, but it could pay off. No proof, I just believed the post; this is CC after all! But making each mirror 14cm wider seems a lot.
Oops; I meant 28 mm.
Just to clarify, i am far from an expert on these trucks, but I can seek out reputable sources. That particular tidbit is from Car and Driver, which states
“If it looks more substantial than the Nissan, that’s because Daimler has widened the track—and the bodywork—by a full 2.8 inches. The two trucks will be built on the same assembly lines, but no exterior sheetmetal or glass is interchangeable. The door geometry—the hinges, latches, and their locations—is the same, but the panels are all brand specific. ”
Car and Driver goes on to say: “The widened body allows more generous interior space than the Navara offers. ”
I read other sources that claimed the same.
Mercedes-Benz. Just another brand.
Agreed.
“Since North Americans are decidedly loyal to North American-branded pickups.”
Don’t tell the Tacoma you said this.
.
That’s a market Toyota has a hammerlock on- the compact/mid-size pickup. But it’s no accident that the Tacoma outsells the Tundra by almost 2:1. Or that the Dodge Ram (#3 on the pickup sales parade) outsold the Tacoma by over 2:1. In total, the “Big Three” delivered 2.3 MILLION full-size pickups in 2017. And Ford had a 41% market share of that action.
Stephen, this comment was a bit tongue in cheek, but it is mostly true. If you look at the total number of pickup sales in the US, the vast majority are from American brands. Tacoma is an anomaly, but this is partially because the American brands did abandon this segment up until recently. FWIW, I own a Toyota truck and I like Toyota trucks (and American brand trucks for that matter).
Not all in on the statement that the MB shares no sheetmetal with the Nissan. The rear doors look exactly the same. Just an observation…I just don’t see the point of a Mercedes Pickup. yes I am an old fart boomer. A MB pickup makes as much sense as a Porsche SUV/CUV. I’d rather have a Buick TourX. MB has lost it. Used to be bank vault Tolerances and ambiance. As a kid and a teen MB meant you had class and taste , The last MB I liked in that vein was actually the 190. All others have gone Hollywood. Too much plastic and faux luxury. In short, not impressed.
Does MB had gone the way of Packard by going full Hollywood and cheapening the brand?
Here a quote from Ate Up With Motor about the Packard 120 who’s a warning tale to MB, BMW and Audi; ” It’s a moot point now, of course, because Packard has been gone for decades, but the company’s trajectory is one the managers of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi would do well to study. In Europe, the “premium” German brands now dominate what used to be the midsize sedan segment and have more recently begun an aggressive push into smaller and cheaper C-segment. To date, the strength of those brands has yet to suffer significantly from that expansion, but as cars from formerly high-end brands displace mainstream marques like Ford and Opel, the Germans may eventually find that they’ve become the new mainstream rather than the upscale alternative.
Considering the Germans’ sales volumes and profit numbers in recent years, that may seem like the opposite of a problem, but if the roundel and three-pointed star no longer connote any particular snob appeal, those manufacturers, like Packard, may find themselves newly vulnerable from both above and below. Presently, they maintain their prestige through continued investment in the bigger, fancier, more expensive models, but with ever-escalating regulatory demands for better fuel economy and lower CO2, the senior cars may not be sustainable indefinitely — and there’s always the risk that some ambitious CEO will, like Max Gilman, eventually decide that the big cars are more expensive than they’re worth. At that point, history may repeat itself.”
Not relevant. Mercedes has been offering a full line of passenger and commercial vehicles almost forever, if not all of them in the US. The world has changed since 1935. A lot.
Not all in on the statement that the MB shares no sheetmetal with the Nissan. The rear doors look exactly the same
There’s a minor difference in the accent line. But it’s easy nowadays to change exterior sheet metal somewhat, much easier than in decades past. The inner body structure is what’s harder to change.
You beat me too it Paul, but I noticed that too. It’s a minor difference, but it’s obvious once you see it.
Relax, this isn’t sold as a regular Mercedes, this is a a fleet vehicle work truck. It’s gonna be sold through the same sales channel as the Citan and Sprinter vans. Mercedes is quite big on fleet trucks in Europe, and there are competetive advantages offering a full line up. A customer looking for five different kinds of trucks rather go through one dealer than five. This is just Mercedes way of securing those sales by captive imports.
Trucks aren’t used as grocery go getters in Europe, exactly no one will use this as a private car. This is gonna be used by farmers and contractors and plumbers and the likes, anyone needing to haul stuff. I know it sounds crazy, but most trucks in Europe are fleet vehicles. Exactly no one in Europe buys a truck to haul kids or go shopping at the mall. This is not a high-end truck, despite what the sales fluff says. The reason it’s not gonna be sold in the US is because the demographic would completely misunderstand the purpose of this truck. This is not a luxury vehicle, this is a work truck. It’s a rebadged Nissan Navara, nothing more, nothing less.
You’re expressing a lot of certitude, and the facts don’t support it. The personal pickup market is expanding rapidly globally, even outside the US. Mercedes is specifically targeting countries with that type of growth. Mercedes’ own tag line for the X Class is “Pickup meets Lifestyle”.
From the MBZ X Class website:
As well as bringing the progressive design of the acclaimed Concept X-CLASS largely unchanged to standard production, the new X-Class is uniquely versatile in terms of its area of application – it can be used as a rugged, all-terrain pickup but also as a vehicle for urban lifestyles and families. The X-Class pushes the boundaries of the classic pickup. It complements the prized strengths of a mid-size pickup with the typical Mercedes-Benz characteristics of driving dynamics, comfort, design, safety, connectivity and an extensive scope for individualisation…
Number of pickups for private use increases…The X-Class has been developed with the changing requirements of the international pickup markets in mind. The demand for mid-size pickups with typical passenger car characteristics and comfort features has been steadily on the rise for years. At the same time, the number of pickups for private use is increasing. As the first premium manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz is taking these changes into account – based on its comprehensive experience and competence in developing commercial and off-road vehicles, such as the Unimog and the G-Class for tough operation, such as the V-Class and Vito, and passenger cars that uniquely stand for modern luxury and driving pleasure around the world.
Here’s from an Autoexpress review:
It’s the top end of the pick-up segment that Mercedes is targeting, right where the growth – both in the UK and in global markets including Russia, South America, South Africa and Australia – has been over recent years. In this segment, the pick-up is bought very much as a dual-use utility vehicle that can straddle the line between business and pleasure.
Pickups in Europe may be taxed and classified as commercial vehicles, but that only adds to their appeal, at least in some countries, where their taxes are lower as a consequence. Ask CC Contributor Johannes Dutch about the growing popularity of pickups in his part of the world.
Maybe in part it’s with your definition of “fleet”. If an independent contractor or farmer buys a truck, that’s not “fleet” . “Fleet” implies that a number of them have been bought by a company for their employees (or renters) to use. Maybe you mean “commercial”, but that definition gets abused massively in many European countries, because of the often lower taxes/fees. Lat’s face it, many Land Cruisers with blanked out rear side windows aren’t just used for commercial work. And that applies to lots of other trucks and vans too.
Call it an aspirational work truck, Mercedes own GMC. What the farmers aspire to now that Land Rover axed the old Defender. And sure, it’s gonna be an aspirational car in markets like South America, Africa, Asia, Australia. But so was the Land Rover and the Toyota Land Cruiser. This is still gonna be a body on frame pickup truck with a very limited appeal amongst private buyers.
No, I meant real fleet buyers. The European fleet market is extremely specialized and price sensitive. Fleet buyers will buy only what they need for a specific purpose and nothing else, that means a fleet of different cars specialized for different purposes. A dealer that can provide this within the same brand will win over sales from the competition. Buyers are not brand loyal and will play the dealers against each other to gain larger discounts. This pic by Johannes Dutch shows a typical European fleet buyer, note that it’s mainly only Ford or VW products.
Well, if you’re still sticking to your line that this is strictly a fleet vehicle, I’m not buying it. And the target marketing doesn’t support it. Or other facts.
I didn’t say strictly, I said mainly with an extremely limited appeal amongst private buyers. Mercedes can say what they want about this truck being a Lifestyle Vehicle, that’s just meaningless sales fluff. At the end of the day this is a body on frame Navara in a fancier dress, and nobody in Europe will mistake it for anything else.
I agree. This is not going to be a huge success here in the EU among private buyers. Yes, sales of this type (double cab pick ups) are growing but I cannot see the same market developing for them here as in the US. There are a few “outdoors” (or would be outdoors) types who may buy something like this (if they can stomach the inflated price) but in general it would be something a company gets for few upper field managers who might from time to time need to carry tools and persons. A small contractor would prefer a Sprinter “Pritsche” like the below.
No one expects the market for personal-use pickups in Europe to be comparable to what they are in the US. But it is growing, and you at least acknowledge that. It’s certainly bigger than “exactly zero”.
The single most common car amongst private buyers in Europe is the VW Golf, anything bigger than that isn’t bought by private money. Most Volvos, BMWs, Mercedes, etc are tax deductible company leases, payed for by companys as a company perk. And this Mercedes truck will have exactly zero private buyers in Europe, all of them will be written off as a company expense in one way or the other.
anything bigger than that (VW Golf) isn’t bought by private money.
Ingvar, You’ve got to be kidding. Are you living under a rock?
Who buys Tourans, and all the Quashqais, and all the other MPVs and CUVs. I have friends in Germany and they drove a VW Caravelle for years, until their kids grew up. And I know others…
Two of my cousins in Austria drive Tiguans. Another one drives a VW T5 bus too. Another drives a Touareg, to tow their boat. I could go on. Actually, not one of my many cousins drives a Golf or anything that small. And these are thrifty Austrians, typically teachers and such, all employed (or now retired), not business or high-income folks.
And these are ALL private (not commercial) vehicles.
And this Mercedes truck will have exactly zero private buyers in Europe,
Whenever someone uses the words “exactly zero” in this kind of discussion/debate, I stop listening. Adios.
Was talking to a country dealer whose sells the Ford competitor. He is not happy about these because the top end of the light pickup market, where his Ford is the most popular choice, is going to shift towards these. They’re not all workhorses, this guy’s top-end (most profitable) volume is guys who own a business but will never use the pickup to carry tools or supplies, but need that back tray as a ‘work-with-hands’ signifier and option them to the max. In urban Melbourne, the VW competitor is already making deep penetration.
“guys who own a business” is the demographic I’ve been trying to explain. They have some sort of business and can use the company to write off the expense.
True, and our market is admittedly different here. But there are a *lot* of sole-trader contractors who buy these, city and country, just to get them to the worksite, and the market has shifted considerably towards the premium offerings. These are sort of the equivalent to the stateside F100 over here in terms of demographic penetration.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in the US eventually, maybe the next gen after Nissan updates the local Frontier. My local MB dealer has a whole row of Sprinters in 2WD and 4WD, Passenger and Work versions and Metris’ (also Passenger and Work versions) lined up right next to the E-Classes, S-Classes and all the AMG’d things. And they all seem to sell quite well, there is good turnover on the lot. The same sales people sell all of them, there is no special “work truck staff” or the like.
Around here the biggest obstacle would be that it’s mid-size or compact rather than Full Size or Heavy Duty. If MB rebodied the Titan or even better then Titan XD, it would very likely sell around here, probably better than the Nissan version does.
MB invested a bunch of money in this, but way less than if they had started from scratch. It’s different enough that it’s not 100% obvious to everybody who isn’t a car/truck nut but close enough that it can be profitable at fairly low volumes, especially if sold worldwide.
I’ve been aaware of this for a while, and it really isn’t a surprise given other cross-badging of light commercial vehicles, mostly by the Europeans. But let’s not forget that just 10 years ago it was very unusual for a US plumber to pull up in a van with a three-pointed star on the front; now, not so much. Still, if you set the way back machine to 1968 and told someone in the US that in 50 years, the “Lil Hustler” pickup would be rebadged by Mercedes, you’d have been laughed at. Times do change.
This seems like an upscale version of the Suzuki Equator, a simple rebadge of the US market Nissan Frontier sold from 2008-2012.
Apparently the target market was Suzuki motorcycle owners.
Renault-Nissan also lets GM rebadge their NV200 van.
http://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolet-rebadging-nissan-nv200-as-city-express-van-366667/
Chevy’s response to the Transit Connect and ProMaster City.
North American commenters need to keep in mind that M-B globally is one of the larger makers of the most basic delivery vans and heavy duty trucks so on that basis this isn’t out of order. It is much more luxurious than a G350 pickup.
On the Nissan base for the vehicle, I think this is more of a toe-in-water exercise, and if it works M-B may do their own pickup in a few years.
I also read an article that stated no panels were shared and neither were the front and rear windows, so it seems that there has been some change to the basic bodyshell. The same article said shoulder room is increased by 50mm over the Nissan.
Having said that, I’m not sure how well it will work in the Australian market given it will be priced at a premium. Any tradesman who turns up in a Mercedes pickup to do work for a normal member of the public might face a bit of backlash, with the suspicion they are charging too much!
Agree John. I think the VW would do better, the M-B just a little too much wank. I was surprised to discover that Globe International – who made their fortune on surf/street wear – are now deeply into a workwear range. There must be enough tradies moving away from the cashed-up bogan cliche and looking for some worksite style.
https://fxdworkwear.com
Plus there’s all those TV ads for the ‘tradie’ brand, to appeal to the bogans or bogan-wannabes.
Mercedes is cheapening its brand, it’s not even funny. What’s next? Mercedes taxi cabs, vans, and city cars?!
Funny you should say that…..
…ummmm