Mercedes-Benz X-Class pickup getting the axe
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The X-Class apparently didn’t have the X-factor Mercedes-Benz was hoping for.
(Mercedes-Benz)
The automaker’s midsize pickup truck is being discontinued this spring, just three years after its debut. The move comes amid a broader cost-cutting strategy the company recently initiated.
Automotive News reports that Mercedes-Benz sold fewer than 10,000 of the pickups globally in the first nine months of last year, and just 16,700 in 2018.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(Mercedes-Benz)
The X-Class is a redesigned and luxed-up version of the Nissan Navara, and neither is sold in the United States.
Similar in size to the Nissan Frontier, the starting price for the X-Class in Spain, where it is produced, is around $45,000, or more than twice what the cheapest Navara goes for there.
(Mercedes-Benz)
Mercedes-Benz has been exploring the idea of introducing a pickup in the United States, where they are more popular than anywhere, but the X-Class didn’t fit the bill due to America’s unique safety regulations and the 25 percent “Chicken Tax” levied on imported pickups.
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