Back in 2010, the Renault-Nissan Alliance joined forces with Daimler AG for a number of projects. The biggest debacle of this uneasy partnership came in the form of a luxury-oriented pickup truck based on the Nissan Navara. The midsizer in question started production at Nissan's assembly plant in Spain in November 2017. Less than three years later, the X-Class was canned over abysmal sales.
Internally referred to as W470, the body-on-frame pickup was reimagined with modern styling cues by Digimods DESIGN. From the amber marker lights on the front wheel arch flares, as well as the badges on the front fenders, the pixel artist used the previous-generation Ford Ranger as the basis for this fellow here. As for the headlights, make that 2024 model year Mercedes GLC and GLC Coupe.
The taillights are sourced from the Stuttgart-based automaker as well, whereas the rear sliding window appears to come from the Ranger. Not a bad-looking truck per se, but alas, the skinny tires and chromed exhaust finishers in combination with a side-exiting exhaust pipe make this rendering a bit crude. To be frank, the real thing left much to be desired as well.
X-Class deliveries totaled 16,700 units in 2018. The following year, the W470 struggled to move 15,300 examples of the breed. Selling this bad in the Australian, South African, and European markets is bad enough. But worse still, Mercedes couldn't make a case for the X-Class in the United States. The mad professors at AMG weren't allowed to give it a V8 either. On the other hand, Mercedes was right to nip the X-Class in the bud.
Reliability issues are one thing. Yet being positioned above the Navara while featuring the iffy plastics of the Navara sealed the deal. The interior of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class also looked outdated when it came out. With the A-Class featuring a much nicer interior, one has to ask, why bother?
The bean counters and product planners should've known from the outset that a Navara with a Mercedes-designed exterior and V6 engine isn't a luxury truck. Similar mistakes were made in the past by the Lincoln Motor Company with the Mark LT and Blackwood, which were based on the F-150.
Considering that full-size trucks from a luxury brand didn't sell well in a country where full-size pickup trucks reign supreme, what in the name of all things holy made the Stuttgart-based automaker think the X-Class was a good idea? We also have to remember that Nissan discontinued the Euro-spec Navara as well in 2022, citing declining sales.
Expecting to make a killing with a mid-size pickup in the European Union couldn't be a bigger misunderstanding of the European automotive market. Vans greatly outsell pickup trucks in this part of the world, and one of those vans also dominates the full-size van segment in the United States of America. That van is – of course – the Transit, which crushed the Ram Promaster (a.k.a. Fiat Ducato), good ol' Ford E-Series, Chevrolet Express, and GMC Savana in the first half of 2023.
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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