The hype surrounding the X-Class prior to its launch was immense. But now that the premium-oriented pickup truck is official, the skeptics among us have been convinced by Mercedes-Benz that this isn’t just your average Nissan Navara NP300 in nicer clothes. It’s an extensively engineered product aimed at a certain public, the Mercedes-Benz of pickup trucks if you will.
Scheduled to go on sale in Germany in November 2017, the starting price of €37,294 including value-added tax buys you a refreshingly spartan configuration. Steel wheels, six-speed manual transmission, cloth seats, that’s how the cookie crumbles at this price point for the X-Class. What is most impressive, however, is that even the no-frills specification looks good and feels like a quality product, 5.4-inch infotainment screen and all.
5.34 meters (210 inches) long and sporting a ground clearance of 202 millimeters (7.95 inches), the X-Class has been engineered to be adequately capable when the going gets off-road. An approach angle of 20.4 degrees is testament to that. More mundane tasks, like carrying a dirt bike in the bed, don't pose a problem for the mid-sized workhorse for the X-Class prides itself on a maximum payload of 1,042 kilograms (2,297 pounds).
Towing capacity is another area where the newcomer of the three-pointed star excels. When equipped with the range-topping 3.0-liter turbo diesel V6, the X 350 d will gladly tow a trailer containing three horses or an eight-meter yacht. More to the point, that’d be 3.5 tonnes or 7,716 pounds.
At launch, however, customers will be offered a choice of two four-cylinder oil-burning plants in the form of the X 220 d and X 250 d. The latter is of the twin-turbo variety and, just like the Nissan Navara’s 2.3-liter mill, it develops 140 kW (190 PS). A gasoline-fed model is available as well, with the so-called X 200 being offered exclusively in LHD, RWD, and with a stick shift.
After rolling the X-Class out in Europe, Australia, and South Africa, 2019 will see Mercedes-Benz’s workhorse go into production in Latin America, at the Renault plant located in Cordoba, Argentina. Plans to bring the X-Class in North America are on the table, but the three-pointed star has yet to make a call in this regard for one too many reasons, Chicken Tax included.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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