Why the Mercedes X-Class will redefine segment

Admit it – at some point of your life you came across a ridiculous rendering of a Mercedes Bakkie on the internet and thought “HA! Never in a million years!” The first images which appeared on April Fools Day didn’t help matters.

Well, just when we thought 2016 was done with its surprises, Mercedes confirmed that a new pick-up truck will see the light of day.

Expected to debut at the Paris Show in October 2016, the concept (dubbed the ‘X-Class) could be seen as early as a year before the production model. However, the first batch of freshly baked X-Classes will most likely be left-hand-drive units for Germany, meaning that South Africa would only be getting our shipment in the beginning of 2018 at the earliest.

Even though nobody’s actually seen the X-Class in the metal, we know quite a lot about it already. CEO of Mercedes’ Van department, Volker Mornhinweg, revealed that Mercedes will launch a competitor to the Volkswagen Amarok by the end of 2017.

An official sketch has also been released depicting unmistakeable Mercedes styling cues throughout the Mercedes X-Class like the signature wide three-bar grille, swept-back headlights and curvy front wings. A simple glance at the X-Class reveals many similarities to the recently revealed GLE and GLE Coupe, and features a double-cab arrangement on a ladder chassis with the possibility of a single cab in the pipeline. Towards the rear, we understand there are slim taillights complementing either side of a wide tailgate as well as a removable rear bumper to aid the loading of large objects.

The new Mercedes will share much of its underpinnings with the latest Nissan Navara, however instead of being driven by a single 2.3-litre diesel engine, we believe the Mercedes will be offered in four- and six-cylinder petrol and diesel derivatives, paired with your choice of a manual or automatic transmission. If that doesn’t sound good enough then you’ll be happy to know that there’s even a petrol-hybrid variant on the way to pioneer a premium Bakkie market.

A Mercedes wouldn’t be a Mercedes without a luxury interior, so features like a floating tablet-like central screen and the latest active safety and driver assistance are expected in the X-Class, although plastic will take preference over leather in the pursuit of durability.

As with the other vehicles in Mercedes’ large vehicle line-up, it’s believed Mercedes will offer two variants of the X-Class for two distinct markets: Commercial and Luxury– the latter featuring premium materials like leather and wood trim.

Expected to reach Mercedes dealerships by the end of 2017, Mercedes aims to do what it did with the M-Class over 20 years ago –redefine the segment by offering a vehicle that focuses more on comfort and luxury but still offers decent off-road capability and ruggedness.