Mercedes-Benz building "world's safest ute"

The humble ute, or pickup as Mercedes-Benz calls it, is set to go through a radical shift as the German luxury car-maker prepares a full-blown offensive on the ute market late in the decade.

The Mercedes-Benz light-commercial vehicle will be underpinned by a Nissan Navara platform but the German company will completely reskin the vehicle and add new engines, increased levels of comfort and a significant suite of safety technology.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, Mercedes-Benz boss, told motoring.com.au at a pre-Geneva last night event that the new ute, which could be named the GLT-Class, will not compromise on safety.

"When we enter a new segment, of course our objective is to apply Mercedes characteristics and values to that segment and I think we are known for high safety and high comfort," said Mercedes' most senior executive.

"Ultimately we are a luxurious brand and therefore the objective is to define such a segment for the pickup."

The Benz ute is still some way from production, with late 2018 or 2019 tipped to be its arrival date according to Volker Mornhinweg, Mercedes-Benz Vans chief. When production starts, however, it will be split between Europe (Spain) and Latin America (Argentina).

Expected to offer class-leading safety, with more airbags, high-level crash protection and a sensor suite that will brake and steer the vehicle by itself, the new vehicle will be the safest and most advanced vehicle in the ute market, the Mornhinweg told motoring.com.au.

The Mercedes Vans boss would not confirm fully autonomous technology for the ute but stated there were many "opportunities" in this area.

"We have specific kind of technologies and specific setups for how we would like to see, and how we would like to develop this kind of product. And you can be assured it will be an outstanding product, of this I'm totally convinced," Mornhinweg stated.

The class-leading Ford Ranger ute can already accelerate, brake and steer itself, and features several advanced safety technologies and Mornhinweg confirmed he's driven it, but says the Benz will be better.

"I would like to say we always watch our rivals quite carefully and see what they're doing. It's [Ranger] a good car but there's always room for improvement," he said.

"We are shooting for a premium customer, private use, leisure time. Some business, some family time," but unlike the Ford Ranger's SUV cousin, Everest, the Mercedes Vans boss said an SUV based on its luxury ute will not happen.

With hundreds of thousands of new utes sold annually in this country, Australia will be an important market for Mercedes. Local executives have already confirmed the new ute will be tested Down Under and there's also scope for red-hot versions of the pick-up, almost certain to be adorned with AMG badges.

An ex-boss of Mercedes’ AMG performance brand, Mornhinweg implied he was working to make entry-level versions of the ute the most powerful in their class. He guarded when talk came to go-fast versions.

"At the end, when it comes to what you ask about performance, I think we will have a very performance-oriented and powerful product. If it has to be an AMG, we will see," he said, noting that there were now mid-grade AMG models, like the 43 models powered by a 270kW 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine.

"AMG has different levels of designs, performance, this sort of thing, so this is something we can always consider," he observed.