Not a rebadged Navara: Mercedes-Benz defends X-Class

Mercedes-Benz has barely pulled the wraps of its highly anticipated X-Class utility and the flak is flying!

And that’s in a large part because when the sheets came off in South Africa overnight, the
production model revealed was substantially closer in look to the Nissan Navara on which it is based, than the striking concepts previewed.

Already motoring.com.au Facebook and Disqus forums are attracting feedback criticising the styling of the new dual-cab.

https://www.facebook.com/motoring.com.au/videos/1650322188334209

But while the production model might have lost some of the dramatic Germanic sculpture (especially around the pointy end!), Mercedes-Benz assures fans its segment-first ute is still much more than a rebadged Nissan.

Speaking to Australian media at the global unveiling of the X-Class overnight, Mercedes-Benz Vans global head (and ex-AMG boss) Volker Mornhinweg said it was important to understand the economies of scale and profitability required when building a light commercial vehicle.

“In the LCV business it’s a common approach to work with alliance partners, and a lot of companies are working together quite successfully,” he explained.

“If we would like to be attractive from a price perspective, we have to work on things together. We cannot achieve, in our LCV segment, the huge amounts of numbers as the [Mercedes-Benz] passenger cars can.”

Mornhinweg said that the shorter development time of the X-Class was another factor in partnering with the Renault-Nissan alliance.

The group’s plants in Argentina and Spain are key to delivering a product to a standard Mercedes-Benz customers would expect, he stated.

“Partnering in the passenger car segment is not so common, but in the LCV segment it’s a natural move,” he continued.

“We had a target of introducing the car [X-Class] at a short-term notice, and as it’s a global product, we could not build-up one facility for this product.

“Therefore we discussed it with Nissan, if they [sic] are keen or have the willingness to work with us. They have a long tradition of doing pickups, and their base overall was useable for us, so we had it done.”

Mornhinweg added that although the Mercedes-specific styling changes made to the production X-Class were not as dramatic as promised by the concept model, they were enough to imbue the dual-cab with characteristics Mercedes-Benz buyers expected.

“We were more focussed on ‘what was the competition set in the market’, to see where the strengths and weaknesses were in our competitors, and to see what we’d have to do to meet the description we set out to achieve,” he emphasised.

“If that meant that in some areas we needed to work with our partners [Nissan-Renault] and take their parts, then why shouldn’t we do that.

“When there is not a need to differentiate the things a customer cannot feel or see, that’s stupid, because you need those economies of scale.

“On one hand we are here to make our customers happy, but on the other, to be honest, we are in business to make better products and money to attract more customers.

“If we had just done it as a double badge [re-badged vehicle] as you sometimes see in the LCV business, then maybe it would be a different discussion. But this is hardly a double badge,” he concluded.