Photo: Mercedes-Benz
When Mercedes-Benz presented two concepts of the W470 in 2016, the three-pointed star was all high and mighty about the world’s first properly premium pickup truck. Four years later, the series-production model is anything but that. Adding insult to injury, the rock-bottom sales volume makes the X-Class rarer than the one year of C8 Corvette or Mazda MX-5 Miata production.
“15,300 units sold worldwide in 2019” is the figure pointed out by Auto Motor und Sport, and the German motoring publication has also received confirmation about the unbecoming end of the X-Class. By comparison, the Nissan Navara totaled more than 66,000 examples of the breed in the same timeframe.
Bringing the Navara into our discussion is important because the X-Class shares the chassis, 2.3-liter turbo diesel four-cylinder engine, and two transmission options with the Japanese pickup truck. Mercedes’ only contributions are the different body panels, slightly better interior, and range-topping V6 powerplant.
Speaking of the cabin, have you ever seen the X-Class in bargain-basic specification? That’s some rather nasty plastic and poor build quality in there, and even if you splash out on a better specification, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this is not adequate for a commercial vehicle from Mercedes-Benz.
Another problem has to do with the higher-ups and product planners. Initially believed to be the three-pointed star golden goose in the U.S. market, the X-Class never arrived stateside to grab a piece of the lucrative pickup market. With the faults that we’ve talked about beforehand, it’s not surprising why…
There’s also the target customer of the X-Class, a gentleman or lady who has to meet at least two criteria. Firstly, the individual likes Mercedes-Benz. Secondly, he or she has to like the idea of a pickup truck. There’s no denying the pool of customers is rather slim, more so because AMG hasn’t developed a high-performance version to compete against the Ford Ranger Raptor.
Looking through the German configurator, only the X 350 d is available for order. The absence of the X 220 d and X 250 d, therefore, means that the Nissan plant in Barcelona, Spain has already stopped production of both variants.
Bringing the Navara into our discussion is important because the X-Class shares the chassis, 2.3-liter turbo diesel four-cylinder engine, and two transmission options with the Japanese pickup truck. Mercedes’ only contributions are the different body panels, slightly better interior, and range-topping V6 powerplant.
Speaking of the cabin, have you ever seen the X-Class in bargain-basic specification? That’s some rather nasty plastic and poor build quality in there, and even if you splash out on a better specification, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this is not adequate for a commercial vehicle from Mercedes-Benz.
Another problem has to do with the higher-ups and product planners. Initially believed to be the three-pointed star golden goose in the U.S. market, the X-Class never arrived stateside to grab a piece of the lucrative pickup market. With the faults that we’ve talked about beforehand, it’s not surprising why…
There’s also the target customer of the X-Class, a gentleman or lady who has to meet at least two criteria. Firstly, the individual likes Mercedes-Benz. Secondly, he or she has to like the idea of a pickup truck. There’s no denying the pool of customers is rather slim, more so because AMG hasn’t developed a high-performance version to compete against the Ford Ranger Raptor.
Looking through the German configurator, only the X 350 d is available for order. The absence of the X 220 d and X 250 d, therefore, means that the Nissan plant in Barcelona, Spain has already stopped production of both variants.
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