German automaker Mercedes-Benz is getting ready to pull the wraps off an all-new, mid-size pickup truck later this month, so to build hype, the company released a quick, 1-minute teaser video earlier this week. It reveals absolutely nothing, but it’s utterly, hilariously dramatic.
We hear that some of the video’s content is rejected footage from Lord of the Rings.
Named the “X-Class”, Mercedes’ upcoming truck was first previewed by a concept model late in 2016. It will share its platform with the third-generation Nissan Frontier – a truck that never quite made it to the US market.
At the moment, then, Ford has no cause for concern in the US; like the latest Frontier, the Mercedes X-Class isn’t likely to penetrate the market unless an additional factory is built. But it would be foolhardy to assume that the new truck will be priced like a luxury product, and if it isn’t, it could prove a (surprising) competitor to the global Ford Ranger.
It would also be quite daft to assume that because Mercedes-Benz is a German luxury brand, the automaker is incapable of executing a “proper” light-duty pickup truck. For one thing, Mercedes is an established maker of commercial vehicles, its three-pointed-star logo adorning everything from vans to cutaway chassis, to tractor units. For another, the German automaker could do worse for a partner than Nissan, which has a history in pickup trucks stretching back to the 1960s.
We’ll learn more about the upcoming Mercedes-Benz X-Class on Tuesday, July 18th, when the production version is unveiled to the world. Meanwhile, the current Ford Ranger T6 is due for a replacement by 2019, meaning the mid-size truck segment could get a whole lot more interesting in the near future.
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