Mercedes-Benz debuts X-Class pickup — no, really, a pickup

July 19, 2017
As pickup truck sales continue on a healthy climb upward, even Mercedes-Benz — a brand more identified with premium luxury and top-dollar sport — is getting in on the action.

As pickup truck sales continue on a healthy climb upward, even Mercedes-Benz — a brand more identified with premium luxury and top-dollar sport — is getting in on the action. Although the company compared it to a cowboy hat, that iconic staple of the Old West and widely popular today, the truck isn't headed to the North American market (at least for now).

"Wow, this is finally happening? A Mercedes-Benz pickup is brought to life," said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler AG's Board of Management and head of Mercedes-Benz cars, at the X-Class' launch event in Capetown, South Africa. "I believe there is no other species of vehicles that has sparked as much creativity and emotions in humans as pickups."

The M-B pickup aims to be tough — "a reliable workhorse and companion out in the field, on the prairie, at construction sites and anywhere else," Zetsche noted, while offering passenger car comfort, refinement and advanced technology.

"It's a bit like a cowboy hat: reliable and protective at work during the day and stylish at a bar at night," he told the audience.

Watch video unveiling the new X-Class pickup:

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He's written about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined Fleet Owner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he's a keeper of knowledge at Fleet Owner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all around trucking—and still turns a wrench or two. Or three. 

And he's never without a camera, or so rumor has it.

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