Mercedes enters new market with its first... pick‑up!

The tax benefits of running a double-cab pick-up on the firm have been known for years. What were traditional workhorses have been creeping steadily more upmarket and getting more “lifestyle”. But the highest the genre has got up the food chain has been the VW Amarok. Not any more.

Say hello to what Mercedes is billing as the first truly premium double-cab pick-up – the Mercedes-Benz X-Class.

What you see here is a concept – and in two forms, one majoring on style, the other adventure – but with some changes this is what will be in Mercedes-Benz showrooms from the end of next year. That’s M-B Van showrooms, so don’t expect to see the X-Class alongside your E or S-Class. And no, there probably won’t be an AMG version…

Mercedes doesn’t add whole new classes of vehicles to its car or commercial ranges very often, and the X-Class is big news for the three-pointed star brand. It represents an investment in the hundreds of millions of euros, even though the X-Class is being built as a joint project with the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

As such the X-Class draws on what is one of the double-cab market’s global front-runners, the Nissan Navara, although one look at the new Merc shows that above the ladder-frame chassis the Mercedes-isation process has been incredibly thorough.

With its unique and expressive Mercedes styling and the promise inside of familiar Merc fittings, finish and features – with many parts from the C-Class and V-Class – Mercedes asserts that the X-Class exudes a “welcome home” feeling typical of the brand as well as hallmark driving dynamics and safety. The Mercedes of pick-up trucks? That’s what it says.

The two concepts are called Stylish Explorer and Powerful Adventurer. One hints at svelte Merc coupe, the other is more monster truck, and between them they are trying to tick all the boxes that these days comprise a double-cab pick-up’s enormous breadth of ability. From extreme off-road toughness to five-seat lifestyle practicality and executive car plushness and connectivity. One “car” does it all? That’s the idea.

Including of course being able to carry a one-tonne payload in the back – that’s the essential bit in the UK for qualifying as a commercial vehicle and getting the benefit-in-kind benefits if run as a company vehicle (there’s no sliding CO₂ scale for LCVs, just a fixed rate). Heavens, businesses will even be able to get the VAT back on this Mercedes!

What can we expect when the X-class reaches the showrooms in 2017? They will all have four doors and five seats, with high-torque engines. Mercedes says the top model will  be a V6 diesel with 4MATIC permanent all-wheel drive. It will take off-road ability seriously with an electronic traction system, a transfer case with reduction gear, and two differential locks – just like the Nissan Navara then. Mercedes says it will be able to tow up to 3.5 tonnes while the pick-up bed will accommodate four cubic metres of firewood.

And how will it drive on the road? It has coil springs at the back (some pick-ups still rely on cart springs) and what Mercedes says is a “precisely calibrated spring/damper set-up to ensure a high ride comfort – on the road and off the road.” Precise steering, a comfortable ride, and agile cornering are other attributes the company is claiming for it.

Price? All Mercedes is saying is that the X-class, which will be made for Europe at Nissan’s plant in Spain, will be positioned in its segment at an ”attractive price”.

Farmers, adventurers, families, self-employed professionals, builders, lifestyle businesses… the X-class will be aimed at all of them, and all around the world but with the UK being a key market for it. With the X-class the line between workhorse and luxury car just got a great deal hazier. Just don’t let HMRC know….