Mercedes upends the pick-up market

When is a Mercedes not a Mercedes? Well, when it’s part Renault and part Nissan, is the answer to that particular question.

Sat, 24 Mar, 2018 - 00:00

By Declan Colley

When is a Mercedes not a Mercedes? Well, when it’s part Renault and part Nissan, is the answer to that particular question.

And quite what sort of a beast would a Mercedes that’s part Renault and part Nissan actually be?

Well, it would actually be the new X-Class pick-up truck, which is the first venture into this sort of territory from the Stuttgart behemoth.

Now, a couple of pertinent questions arise from this particular conundrum.

First: Why would a luxury carmaker get into the business of making pick-ups? The main reason is that it is in the business of selling cars and if there is a market it feels it is not exploiting, then that’s just what it is going to do.

Second: Is the pick-up market worth the effort? Well, yes.

Across large swathes of the Americas, Africa, and Asia (and West Cork), pick-ups are de rigueur and a must-have form of transport where the roads are uniformly dodgy enough to require 4WD.

And here in Europe, these things are becoming something of a fashion statement — in Britain alone, more than 50,000 of them were sold in 2017.

Third: Why the alliance with Renault-Nissan? The simple answer is that, possibly after Toyota and its ubiquitous Hilux, Nissan is probably one of the most experienced pick-up makers in the world and its Navarra is nearly as big a seller as the Toyota.

So much so, in fact, that Renault is using its Japanese sibling as the platform for its forthcoming Alaskan model which will seek to replicate the Navarra’s success.

And finally, Mercedes and Groupe Renault became involved in a co-operative engine development plan some time ago, mainly aimed at making powerplants for commercial vehicles and various other ‘lesser order’ vehicles. The plan, of course, was to share the development costs and the benefits.

I suspect that while all this engine co-operation was going on, someone in Stuttgart noticed the pick-up market had, er, picked up and decided to send word to Renault-Nissan that it might be cool if it could borrow some of the chassis technologies that have made the Navarra such a worldwide hit.

Who knows what the cost of this to Mercedes might have been, but whatever it was, it was deemed worthwhile and a deal was done to allow it to build what we are testing this week, the Mercedes X-Class, which is being touted as the car “which shrugs off the rigours of the wild”.

Whether that claim will hold much water for those folks in Montenotte, Castletroy, or Dalkey who might be demented enough to think this is a fashion statement is debateable. Personally, I feel it will sell more among wealthy farmers whose wives don’t necessarily fancy being hauled around in a Toyota or a Nissan.

Indeed I can see many landing spots for the X-Class and it will be a sure-fire success, no matter what. Here in Ireland, in what is a small but growing market, it will go well; it will also be a massive success in the bigger markets across the US where the pick-up is the largest selling class of car anyway — not to mention the ranching and working classes of South America, Africa, and Asia (and West Cork).

Volkswagen picked up the baton with the Amrock, which is a suitably beefy alternative to the Japanese hordes, but the Merc raises the game a bit further.

The very fact that Mercedes has lent its name to a vehicle that will have a utilitarian life automatically adds a class, style, and distinctiveness to a genre that was previously distinctly absent. Mercedes entering the fray has added a new dynamic to a previously blue-collar segment.

While the chassis and some of the running gear does come from the Navarra and the soon-to-be-revealed Alaskan and the engines are joint efforts too, Mercedes has very definitely put its stamp on this thing. And by that, I don’t just mean that it’s simply stuck a three-pointed star on the front of it.

No, clap your eyes on this and you’re immediately struck by how it is, well, very Mercedes-looking. Inside and out, it has the stamp of a high-class product from Stuttgart.

Certainly, some of the interior plastics are of the horrendous ‘Rhino hide’ variety so beloved by the Japanese, but Mercedes has waved its wand in spectacular fashion to dilute the usual no-frills demeanour of the humble pick-up.

On the driving front, despite having Bundee Aki levels of lane-clearing ability, the X-Class is not something for

the multi-storey carpark, or even the driveway.

Unless you’ve got an area akin to the Kennedy Space Centre to play around in, you won’t be manoeuvring this thing too readily.

I discovered this fact when exiting my mile-wide gate and tainting the passenger side somewhat, despite a Freddy Couples-smooth swing and as much lock as could be cranked on.

But then that sort of stuff doesn’t mean much when you’re in ranching. It is, after all, supposed to take a beating. Like the one the Irish dished out to the English last weekend.

In truth, when at the helm I felt like the captain of a super tanker with little rudder action. On top of that, the engine clatters like the commercial diesel it is and the six-speed manual gearbox takes time to get used to.

A tight torque band makes you work the six-speed manual gearbox through first, second, and third, but evens up into fourth, fifth, and sixth.

Whatever endeavour you’re up to, be it drug-running in Mexico, or poteen-making in the larger Macroom area, the new X-Class adds a giddy element to the pick-up vibe. Fashionistas beware though, because this is not an easy ride and its bulk is easily underestimated.

The flipside is that it will probably climb the North Face of the Eiger without breaking sweat and is a genuine challenge to the beasts from the East. That it is actually half-beast, half-East is what you have to weigh up here.

It’s a hardy mullucker for sure and one which has all the necessary connectivity carry-on you need these days as well as the cow-carrying practicality any card carrying pick-up should. Oh, and there’s a double cab facility too, so you can keep your own kids safe, while throwing the rest of the U10 team into the back.

If I were Mercedes, I’d be getting someone like Irish rugby legend John Hayes involved to sell this thing, three-pointed and modest star that he is.

The X-Class is made for someone with such class — hero turned farmer — and a Grand Slam winner too, like our wonderful winners in Twickenham.

But anyway, the X-Class is an interesting stab at the pick-up genre and it will attract interest from a variety of punters.

The Mercedes allure will wow many and it will grab sales simply because of the badge, but the glossiness does indeed cloak a hard edge, sharpened in Japan.