End of the road for Mercedes-Benz X-Class?
Doubt cast on future of Mercedes' 3500kg tow rated luxo-ute amid dismal global salesAccording to a report from respected industry publication Automotive News Europe, Mercedes-Benz plans to axe its X-Class ute prematurely.
Revealed in late-2016 and launched in 2017, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute is billed as the world's first luxury pick-up truck. It's also a decent 3500kg-rated tow vehicle, with the 190kW/550Nm V6 engined dual-cab ranking middle of the pack in aourrecent 10-ute towing comparison.
The story has been picked up globally but has been dismissed as 'speculation' by Mercedes-Benz Vans local division.
Although the X-Class importer wouldn't confirm or deny the allegations made in the report, Mercedes-Benz Vans Australia and New Zealand's corporate comms manager, Blake Vincent told carsales.com.au his company had no reason to comment on the claims.
"Our position to anything that's written in the European report is that we do not comment on speculations," said Vincent.
Factors including slow sales last year are part of the reason to pull the plug on the X-Class, says Automotive News.
With less than 17,000 X-Class vehicles sold globally – around 1500 of those sales in Australia – a high asking price and fierce competition from the likes of the Toyota HiLux (which sold more than half a million units in 2018) are among the reasons for the vehicle's impending demise says Automotive News.
Locally, sales of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class have risen considerably.
There's been an almost 50 per cent increase in sales from 738 in first six months of 2018, to 1090 vehicles for the same period in 2019. Helping boost local sales is its growing appeal as a platform for rental and aftermarket conversions.
Based on the same platform as the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class is currently offered with four- and six-cylinder turbo-diesel engines.
It requires an inordinate amount of capital to develop a dual-cab ute from scratch, hence Benz' decision to get into bed with Nissan, which had a vehicle ready-to-roll.
The X-Class ute is built in Spain and currently only sold in Australia, Europe and South Africa.
Plans to release the vehicle in South American markets was kyboshed in February after former Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche scotched the idea of building the X-Class pick-up at one of Renault-Nissan's factories in Argentina.
The Mercedes-Benz X-Class is currently priced from $45,450, topping out at $79,415 (before options) for the X350d Power model-grade.
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