Oh well.  I doubt the X-Class would have made a dent in sales here, regardless of where it was built.  Chicken Tax or no, few people here are willing to pay for a Honda Ridgeline, let alone a Nissan-based Mercedes-Benz unibody "truck".

Oh the excuses we will hear lol. 

The best or nothing still can’t solve the “lowly” pick up market without borrowing someone else’s truck and still can’t figure that out. I seem to recall this type of scenario playing out when this overdressed Nissan was first announced. 

Half hearted, minimal effort entry into the global pickup market.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  

I am eagerly awaiting @smk4565's response to this. 

"They have cash out the @ss" 

"money is never an issue" 

"They'll just throw money at it until it works" 

22 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I am eagerly awaiting @smk4565's response to this. 

"They have cash out the @ss" 

"money is never an issue" 

"They'll just throw money at it until it works" 

They're in the same contraction of the industry that everyone else is. They're trying to save over $8 billion and shaving off 10,000 jobs.

14 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

They're in the same contraction of the industry that everyone else is. They're trying to save over $8 billion and shaving off 10,000 jobs.

Oh, i understand that. I'm just..uhh..uhhhh.. picking on somebody... 

Just now, ccap41 said:

Oh, i understand that. I'm just..uhh..uhhhh.. picking on somebody... 

I know... I was just backing you up.

The x-class fiasco is far from the only product that's going to get chopped @ Daimler.

This does make one wonder what their Hybrid and EV portfolio will become. They also have the over rated Hyper Fluff Vapor Car that still is not a saleable product. It might be time to just kill the Money Pit and admit they cannot make an F1 engine work on normal roads.

Dfelt, this thread is not about hybrids and EV's.  Good Lord man.

Looks like Benz is finding out that a li'l hustle will get you nowhere.  You've got to go all-in.  Didn't they learn ANYTHING from Chevy's Nissan collab... the brill City Express?

5 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Oh well.  I doubt the X-Class would have made a dent in sales here, regardless of where it was built.  Chicken Tax or no, few people here are willing to pay for a Honda Ridgeline, let alone a Nissan-based Mercedes-Benz unibody "truck".

So the X-Class isn't Unibody. It is based on the Nissan Navara, which is body-on-frame.

Also, I think the Ridgeline is one of the best pickups - unibody or not. 

1 hour ago, William Maley said:

So the X-Class isn't Unibody. It is based on the Nissan Navara, which is body-on-frame.

Also, I think the Ridgeline is one of the best pickups - unibody or not. 

The fact that the Navara is BOF is actually worse because MB would have tried to sell its truck to the toughest market here: the BOF midsize truck market.  Not a lot of room when the Japanese have made some inroads but have failed to overthrow the domestics like they did with cars and crossovers.  Moreover, even if the X-Class were class-leading there is no guarantee that they would even dent the dominance of the F-series, especially at the price range that Mercedes-Benz usually has their vehicles.  The Ridgeline is still a relative poor seller compared to the competition, regardless of whether it is one of the best (unibody) pickups or not.

Having said that, if the X-Class were built on the same platform as the GLK/GLS, maybe then MB will have a chance without having to spend too much extra money in development.  But it does look like Daimler is doing some rethinking on a lot of things here.

With that low of a volume, plus needing the Renault-Nissan alliance to make the truck work, it makes sense to cut it.  

If they wanted to get into the truck market again they could do that, but they would have to be in the American market where trucks are big and not try to base it in Europe.

Better for them to focus on their core products though if the market starts to shrink.  Plus they need to put money in EV and autonomous because that is what investors want to see.

2 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

The fact that the Navara is BOF is actually worse because MB would have tried to sell its truck to the toughest market here: the BOF midsize truck market.  Not a lot of room when the Japanese have made some inroads but have failed to overthrow the domestics like they did with cars and crossovers.  Moreover, even if the X-Class were class-leading there is no guarantee that they would even dent the dominance of the F-series, especially at the price range that Mercedes-Benz usually has their vehicles.  The Ridgeline is still a relative poor seller compared to the competition, regardless of whether it is one of the best (unibody) pickups or not.

Having said that, if the X-Class were built on the same platform as the GLK/GLS, maybe then MB will have a chance without having to spend too much extra money in development.  But it does look like Daimler is doing some rethinking on a lot of things here.

The Tacoma is the #4 selling truck in the USA and the super old Nissan Frontier outsells the Ranger and Colorado/Canyon.  

I do think if Mercedes wanted to do a truck the MRH platform that is under the GLE/GLS is the platform to use.  That platform is only used on 2 vehicles (3 if you count GLE coupe) and it is made in the USA

31 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

With that low of a volume, plus needing the Renault-Nissan alliance to make the truck work, it makes sense to cut it.  

If they wanted to get into the truck market again they could do that, but they would have to be in the American market where trucks are big and not try to base it in Europe.

Better for them to focus on their core products though if the market starts to shrink.  Plus they need to put money in EV and autonomous because that is what investors want to see.

The Tacoma is the #4 selling truck in the USA and the super old Nissan Frontier outsells the Ranger and Colorado/Canyon.  

I do think if Mercedes wanted to do a truck the MRH platform that is under the GLE/GLS is the platform to use.  That platform is only used on 2 vehicles (3 if you count GLE coupe) and it is made in the USA

Their target market for the X-Class was not Europe. They were gunning for the Asia and South American market that the Navara was occupying. Mercedes just couldn’t pull it off. 

And the Frontier does not such thing. For the year, the Frontier has sold 39K units while the Colorado alone has sold 65K. On what planet is that better sales for the Frontier? The Ranger has sold 30K but hasn’t been on sale everywhere very long. 

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

If they wanted to get into the truck market again they could do that...

Oh; no! Someone here said ( very recently) that once you get out of a segment, it’s nearly impossible to get back in it!

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Oh; no! Someone here said ( very recently) that once you get out of a segment, it’s nearly impossible to get back in it!

Yup although surely he wasn’t talking about Daimler. They can do anything, except build and market their own pick up, of course. 

1 hour ago, surreal1272 said:

Their target market for the X-Class was not Europe. They were gunning for the Asia and South American market that the Navara was occupying. Mercedes just couldn’t pull it off. 

 

And the Frontier does no such thing. For the year, the Frontier has sold 39K units while the Colorado alone has sold 65K. On what planet is that better sales for the Frontier? The Ranger has sold 30K but hasn’t been on sale everywhere very long. 

Corrected for fat thumbs on the phone. 

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

Oh; no! Someone here said ( very recently) that once you get out of a segment, it’s nearly impossible to get back in it!

It is.  But they were never in the American pick up market.  It is hard to enter too.  I was never a big fan of the Mercedes pickup idea.  I think it better left dead.  If anything I would say Daimler could do a Freightliner pickup that could mop the floor with the F-super duty and Silverado HD.

37 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

It is.  But they were never in the American pick up market.  It is hard to enter too.  I was never a big fan of the Mercedes pickup idea.  I think it better left dead.  If anything I would say Daimler could do a Freightliner pickup that could mop the floor with the F-super duty and Silverado HD.

“Never a big fan”.

Your posts about it when it was announced two years ago would suggest otherwise. Your assurance that they could still do a Freightliner style pick up also supports this (which btw is laughable). 

42 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

 If anything I would say Daimler could do a Freightliner pickup that could mop the floor with the F-super duty and Silverado HD.

I do think that is a good idea but I don't think it would mop the floor with the other very VERY established HDs. 

Instead of a big investment to JV or build from scratch a new model to try and enter an existing segment, they should be bold and offer the existing Sprinter truck versions here, maybe with a deeper pickup style bed instead of the shallow tilt bed....focus on the commercial market like the Sprinter vans.  

16 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Dfelt, this thread is not about hybrids and EV's.  Good Lord man.

 

Looks like Benz is finding out that a li'l hustle will get you nowhere.  You've got to go all-in.  Didn't they learn ANYTHING from Chevy's Nissan collab... the brill City Express?

Hello, Earth calling Venus, the story clearly touched on the whole company so if a body on frame truck deal is dead and other auto's are going to be pared down, this does then bring up a valid question on what is the update for their Hybrid / EV product lines.

I think the money is being diverted to EV’s.  They have to bet on the future.

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

It is.  But they were never in the American pick up market.  It is hard to enter too.  I was never a big fan of the Mercedes pickup idea.  I think it better left dead.  If anything I would say Daimler could do a Freightliner pickup that could mop the floor with the F-super duty and Silverado HD.

They don't even market the Sprinter as a Freightliner anymore. They're not going to bring that back.   No, they're all about putting it under the 3 pointed star. 

4 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

I think the money is being diverted to EV’s.  They have to bet on the future.

The money is just being cut.  They're trying for $8b in savings.  More cuts are coming. I wouldn't be surprised if the Crossover Coupes get the ax next. They sell in miserable numbers. 

The problem with the X-class is Mercedes owners aren’t going to buy a truck made by Nissan and Nissan owners aren’t going to pay Mercedes pricing.