Mercedes ute targets Aussie-developed Ranger

The best all-round ute available at present is the Ford Ranger, which has won more of our comparisons and awards than any other one-tonner.

Designed and developed in Australia, the Thai-built Ranger has some of the most advanced features available on a utility today, and has become a massive seller in Australia and globally, generating huge amounts of income for the Blue Oval.

These facts haven't gone unnoticed by Mercedes-Benz, which has confirmed the Ranger was one of the vehicles against which it benchmarked its first one-tonne pick-up, the X-Class.

Coming Down Under in 2018, the X-Class is based on Nissan's latest NP300 Navara and was previewed last week by the debut of two striking on- and off-road concepts in Sweden.

Volker Mornhinweg, the head of Mercedes-Benz Vans division that researched and developed the X-Class, said the Ford Ranger was one of three utes benchmarked by the company, including the Volkswagen Amarok and top-selling Toyota HiLux.

The Benz bigwig said the Volkswagen Amarok was the "first indication" that lifestyle utes were becoming increasingly popular.

"We saw the first move with a product which is more car-like.

"Then the Ford Ranger went even further in that direction and for sure we benchmarked these products.

"We also looked at the Toyota HiLux, the market leader in that segment," he added.

Launching first in Europe in late 2017 and followed by Australia in 2018, Mercedes-Benz says the X-Class is claimed to bring new levels of luxury and ride comfort to the segment, without sacrificing practicality or utility.

To be built alongside the Navara at Nissan's Spanish factory near Barcelona, Mercedes reckons the X-Class ute will have a 1.1-tonne payload in the tray and a 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity.

"This is what we have done [with benchmarking] and we are sure with our approach we will be quite successful in the future against these competitors," said Mornhinweg.

The German luxury brand has declared the X-Class will be the world's safest ute,  and will come packed with an array of semi-automated driver assistance and crash avoidance systems.

Powered by a line-up of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines plus a top-shelf V6 diesel, and potentially available in a range of body styles beyond the initial dual-cab, the X-Class will also be available with a range of genuine factory accessories to match its direct competitors.

Most crucially however, the company says the X-Class will be priced in line with key rivals like the Ranger and HiLux, which could see it become one of Mercedes best-selling vehicles in Australia.