Mercedes-Benz X-Class concept

Pick-ups get premium as Mercedes gears up to join the truck market

Mercedes-Benz has revealed a concept version of its new X-Class pick-up truck, and the fact that it went to the expense of flying journos out to Stockholm just for its reveal suggests it's a kind of a big deal.

So what is the X-Class? It comes from Daimler AG's relationship with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, meaning it shares a platform with the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, along with a factory in Barcelona.

But it'd be unfair to describe it as a Navara with a Mercedes badge. The press gumph from Mercedes suggests it's the 'first true premium pickup' (just like the M-Class was the first upmarket SUV, apparently...) with a variety of target customers in mind. These range from the typical lifestyley types to urban creatures who aren't particularly fussed about taking their truck out of the city but want to make a bit of a statement. There are also the powerfully-built company director types who want to look smart while turning up on building sites.

To cater for this variety of potential customers, Mercedes has revealed two versions of the pick-up. There's the, ahem, Powerful Adventurer, finished in greeny-yellow 'lemonax' paint, with chunky 35x11.50 tyres, a huge amount of ground clearance, a winch to the front for when those 'let's off road' moments go a trifle wrong, and an underbody cladding preventing you from causing too much damage.

And then there's the Stylish Explorer. This is pick-up truck aimed at people who take two spaces when parking. It's sits on bling 22-inch alloys and is finished in a gleaming metallic white that wouldn't keep clean for two minutes in the great outdoors.

Both versions of the X-Class are very much concepts for now but Mercedes is very open about the fact that we'll get production models in the UK from November 2017. The claws are out in the direction of the VW Amarok - a car that, so far, has had the premium pick-up segment to itself.

Peering into the concept's cabin and you can see where Mercedes has gone to the effort of making the X-Cross appealing to SUV owners. We're used to hearing that pick-ups are increasingly car-like, but trust us - the latest Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi L200 and the like have loads of cheap-looking plastics inside. Inside the X-Cross concept, however, it's definitely business as normal for the company that builds the S-Class.

Despite a production model clearly being close (they've been spotted testing and Merc bosses appear to forget they're talking about the concept during our chats at the unveiling), technical details are still a little lacking.

We know there'll be a range-topping V6 turbodiesel taken from elsewhere in the Mercedes-Benz range, while the ladder frame chassis is very similar to that underpinning the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan - complete with a five-link rear suspension with coils rather than leaf springs. The result is a pick-up that apparently will provide both comfort and crisp handling - although bosses wouldn't be pressed on whether we could see an upmarket air suspension in the future. We will, however, see most of Mercedes-Benz's clever active and passive safety features, and even autonomous drive systems such as adaptive cruise control.

All models will be a double-cab pick-up and buyers will get a choice of two- and four-wheel-drive. The latter will be badged in Mercedes-styley 4MATIC, using front and rear diff locks along with a low-range gearbox.

Unlike the rest of the world, the X-Class will only be sold at Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle dealerships. And as for prices, they're very much TBC. If the production model is as plush as the concept we've seen today, it's going to be significantly more than the £23,500 Navara and no doubt more expensive than the £25,500 VW Amarok. But still a fair bit cheaper than a GLE...

And will there be an AMG version? We asked marketing and product management chief Christian Pohl. "Let's not talk about that today," he replied with a grin. "Let's leave that for another time."

That's definitely not a no.

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housen

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