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The Mercedes-AMG X 63 That Never Was Gets Rendered One Last Time

When the three-pointed star revealed the W470 as a concept in October 2016, it was already known that Daimler AG and Nissan had entered a partnership to produce a mid-size pickup truck. As part of the partnership, Mercedes got the platform from the Navara as well as a four-cylinder engine and a seven-speed auto.
Mercedes-AMG X 63 4Matic+ rendering by Kleber Silva 28 photos
Photo: Kleber Silva on Behance
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When the X-Class entered production a year later, plenty of people were shocked by how little Mercedes there was in the W470. Beyond the plasticky dashboard, the workhorse failed in two very important areas. First of all, it’s too expensive to be relevant in the segment. Secondly, the U.S. didn't get it.

Adding insult to injury, AMG never got the chance to make the X 63 4Matic+ that everyone expected despite countless rumors and reports on the super truck with a hot-vee V8. The go-faster pickup has no chances of happening in 2021 either because X-Class production has ground to a halt in May 2020.

This is where Kleber Silva enters the scene. The Photoshop meister from Brazil gave the X 63 a sendoff in the guise of a GT-inspired rendering, complete with the headlights and Panamericana grille from the sports car. Yellow brake calipers complement the black wheels and sports bar, and curiously for an off-roader, the tires are Cooper Discoverer all-seasons instead of mud-terrains.

Ideally, the 63 series X-Class would have received the M177 twin-turbo V8 from the G 63. A wet-sump engine rather than the dry-dump M178 in the GT, the 4.0-liter motor is rated at 577 horsepower (585 PS) and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm) of torque. In other words, Mercedes had the chance to create the most potent mid-size pickup truck of them all but blew it over poor sales.

In January 2020 when the three-pointed star came clean about the end of production, Auto Motor und Sport reported that 15,300 trucks were sold worldwide in 2019. For reference, the Ford Ranger sold 89,571 units in the U.S. alone in 2019 even though the Raptor isn’t available in North America.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

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.
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