Mercedes X class not built with truck-hungry U.S. market in mind

Crain News Service report

STUTTGART, Germany — Daimler A.G. is looking to new horizons, like South America, for its new Mercedes-Benz X class pickup truck.

The company is hoping it will be a game-changer for its light commercial vehicles division — especially in regions where the maker doesn't normally see big sales —and that the X-Class will give the business a more diversified sales footprint by entering the booming global segment of midsize pickups.

Mercedes-Benz Vans boss Volker Mornhinweg said pickup trucks are moving upmarket, just like SUVs have done. “SUVs are elegant lifestyle products with a high-quality finish to them. Not every customer takes them into the wilderness anymore. We believe pickups could go in a similar direction,” he recently told Automotive News Europe.

Until now, Daimler's vans division has been overwhelmingly dependent on Europe, with 70 percent of its 360,000-unit volume coming from the region last year. With the X class, the company is targeting a diverse customer group — from farmers in South America, families in Brazil, building contractors in Australia and trend-conscious individuals in Europe and South Africa.

The pickup aims to tap into surging demand for vehicles capable of transporting one-ton payloads and towing an additional 3.5 tons. Mercedes forecasts volumes for this type of truck will grow by nearly half to 3 million vehicles worldwide in the next 10 years.

The X class will go on sale in Europe in November, in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand early next year and in Argentina and Brazil in 2019. For now, Mercedes says it has no plans to sell the X class in the U.S. where demand is mainly for full-size pickups.

French market researchers Inovev forecast annual X class sales to be 50,000 a year, with 20,000 sold in South America, 20,000 in Europe and 10,000 in South Africa.

In a research note, JATO Dynamics said the X class is Daimler's first attempt to prove that the premium touch can work in a pickup. It said the model will face “several challenges” in Europe where customers consider pickups to be work vehicles and prefer smaller cars.

This report appeared in Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.