Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute may be axed

According to a report from respected industry publication Automotive News Europe, Mercedes-Benz plans to axe its X-Class ute prematurely.

Revealed in later 2016 and launched in 2017, the world's first luxury pick-up truck has been something of a toe-in-the-water exercise for 'Benz, making use of an existing platform shared with the Nissan Navara.

However, barely 12 months on from its debut in Australia, the X-Class is now seemingly under a cloud. Factors including slow sales last year are part of the reason to pull the plug on the X-Class, says Automotive News.

The story has been picked up globally but has been dismissed as 'speculation' by Mercedes-Benz Vans' local division.

Although the X-Class importer wouldn't confirm or deny the allegations made in the report, Mercedes-Benz Vans Australia and New Zealand's corporate communications manager, Blake Vincent, told carsales.com.au his company had no reason to comment on the claims.

"Our position to anything that's written in the European report is that we do not comment on speculation," said Vincent.

With less than 17,000 X-Class vehicles sold globally – about 1500 of those sales in Australia – a high asking price and fierce competition from the likes of the Toyota HiLux (which sold more than half a million units in 2018) are among the reasons for the vehicle's impending demise, says Automotive News.

Locally, sales of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class have risen considerably.

There's been an almost 50 per cent increase in sales from 738 in the ute's first six months of 2018, to 1090 vehicles for the same period in 2019.

Based on the same platform as the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class is currently offered four- and six-cylinder turbo-diesel engines.

It requires an inordinate amount of capital to develop a dual-cab ute from scratch, hence 'Benz's decision to get into bed with Nissan, which had a vehicle ready to roll.

The X-Class ute is built at a Nissan factory in Spain and is currently only sold in Australia, Europe and South Africa.

Plans to release the vehicle in South American markets was kyboshed in February when former Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche scotched the idea of building the X-Class pick-up at one of Renault-Nissan's factories in Argentina.

The Mercedes-Benz X-Class is currently priced from $45,450, topping out at $79,415 for the X350d Power model-grade, both significant premiums over the equivalent Nissan Navara donor cars.