Nissan key to 'Benz pick-up

A plan killed off in 2013 has been reinvigorated and could bring Mercedes-Benz's controversial pick-up concept into production within four years.

The plan, which called for its Renault-Nissan alliance partner, Nissan, to develop a jointly used mid-sized pick-up architecture, is now back on the front burner as Mercedes-Benz tries to expand its footprint in both North and South America.

"Entering the rapidly growing segment of mid-size pick-ups is an important step in continuing our global growth path," said Daimler CEO, Dr Dieter Zetsche.

"Thanks to our well-established partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, we are able to drastically reduce the time and cost to enter this key segment."

In March, Mercedes-Benz leaked a sketch of its pick-up proposal (pictured) but now it has leaked information about the how and where of it, if not the name.

The 'Benz pick-up will have both a pure commercial version and a more passenger-oriented version, both based on the architecture of Nissan's new NP300 (Navara) pick-up, Daimler and Nissan said in a joint statement yesterday.

While the critical US market is undecided on whether to sell the pick-up, it will be built in Cordoba, Argentina, on the same Nissan production line as the NP300 and Renault's own one-tonne pick-up. The Mercedes-Benz version will go from there to North America, should Mercedes-Benz USA CEO, Steve Cannon, decide to take it.

All three machines will also be built at Nissan's plant in Barcelona, Spain, which will produce vehicles for all other non-North American markets, including Australia if it decides to take the Mercedes-Benz version.

Mercedes-Benz has been down this road before, though, having previously planned to have a one-tonne ute on the market before 2017 and based on the same Nissan NP300 architecture.

Daimler sources at the time said the project fell by the wayside because of its in-house validation for noise, vibration and harshness, due to plans to use Renault-Nissan engines.

The original plan called on Daimler to replicate Volkswagen's sales success with its Amarok, and while it would have shared Nissan's chassis, all-wheel-drive system and suspension, it would have gone its own way with interior materials and design. The sheet metal changes were to have been limited to the nose and the badge on the tailgate, sources admitted.

Mercedes-Benz engineers had already begun work at bringing the Navara's NVH levels closer to its own expectations when the project was halted.
However, the one-tonne pick-up fell foul of Daimler's insistence that Nissan pre-engineer the commercial vehicle for a wider range of powertrains than Nissan itself had planned to use, according to sources in Japan, while Mercedes-Benz itself admits it would only have worked if it had been allowed to tailor the engines for market demands.

Daimler also added complications by insisting on pre-engineering its version of the Navara for potential hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants, neither of which were in Nissan's original planning.

The three-brand alliance has already had successes, with Infiniti's Q30 hatch and upcoming QX30 crossover based on the same MFA platform architecture found beneath the Mercedes-Benz A-, B-, CLA- and GLA-Class models.

The smart fortwo and forfour share their architecture with Renault's Twingo, with the forfour built at Renault's Novo Mesto factory in Slovenia.