“The X-Class is the first genuine pickup with convincing passenger-car characteristics,” said Volker Mornhinweg, head of the Mercedes vans unit, which developed the model. “As a result, the X-Class pushes the boundaries of the classic pickup.”
The model won’t be offered any time soon in the U.S. because of the dominance of the competing local full-size pickups, “whereas the mid-size has more appeal globally,” Mornhinweg said at a presentation of the X-Class outside Cape Town that featured the model’s handling of curves, vertical climbs and rocky water hazards. Mercedes also said it isn’t targeting sales in China because of pricing and customers’ use of pickups there as workhorses.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.