This VW Australia Exec Is Not Impressed By The Mercedes X-Class
Remember when that BMW exec called the Mercedes X-Class “appalling”? Now someone from VW has taken a pop at Stuttgart’s new ‘lifestyle’ pick-up truck.
“It’s very difficult to disguise a Nissan Navara,” VW Australia corporate communications chief Paul Pottinger told Motoring. As a reminder, the X-Class is based on the ladder-framed pick-up from Nissan, and is built on the same production line.
“If I was a buyer I might be surprised [with the quality]. When a Mercedes-Benz owner opens the door and sees Nissan hinges, the game might be up,” Pottinger added. He refused to give his opinion on the styling, but did say that “it perhaps could be a polarising design.”
The X-Class may look remarkably similar to the Navara, but almost all of its body panels are bespoke. Which makes you wonder why Mercedes didn’t do more to differentiate them.
It’s quite different under the skin, too: it has different axles with a wider track, its own suspension setup aimed at sharpening up the driving experience, and is loaded up with a whole bunch of Mercedes safety electronics. The interior has been completely redesigned, incorporating bits from the C-Class and V-Class.
Regardless, it seems like this debate will rumble on.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Mercedes are just trying to be different am I right?
Yeah, they’re trying to be wrong.
How ironic. Maybe our little guy did forget that it was as difficult to disguise a Dodge Grand Caravan?
How is the vw version called?
Or a Toyota Hilux.
My uncle has one 😅
it’s different when vw disguises a Dodge, versus mercedes disguising a nissan. it’s not the same level
In all fairness, they did disguise the Mk 5 Escort quite well. Also the Orion.
I’m neither. Mercedes needs to stop this re-bandging sh*t. The X-Class is just a more expensive Navara, the Citan is just a more expensive Kangoo, and they even put RENAULT ENGINES into the lower spec A-Classes?! Unbelievable. What’s next? A 90 hp Dacia engine for the S-Class?
The boggo C class uses Renaukt diesels too :/
the X class uses Nissan engines lol
Fully agreed. Wasn’t Mercedes-Benz supposed to be the absolute spearhead of German car makers? They should stop with these rebadged Nissans and Renaults before their reputations wents downhill all the way. ‘Cause from how it looks, they seem to ignore their core market more and more in favour of useless niche models. After all, it are the well-built saloons that will be remembered, not design abominations like the X-Class.
If MB launched such an engine for the S-Class then I wouldn’t be suprised either.
Citan is more a rebadged Dacia Dokker than Kangoo. Using the 1.5 DCI engine is one of the best engine for the A class and it makes anough power as the A-class or citan aren’t that heavy, so the 110hp turbo diesel is enough.
“as a buyer I might be surprised [with the quality]” Half the owners don’t even read or understand what goes on in their car, as long as it has a Merc badge, it’ll sell in huge numbers, so owners getting surprised:
Wrong use of meme
If they sold these in the states, I don’t think I would ever buy one
Well, Nissan still sells the Frontier, which has virtually not changed since 2005.
But I get what you’re saying: people in the States are mostly associating Mercedes-Benz with luxury, and even outsiders like Toyota, Honda & Nissan, who still manage to sell a lot of cars, can’t seem to get success in the pick-up segment, even more the full-size sub-segment. It’s generally Ram, Ford, Chevrolet, or nothing.
Hey Matt, the upvote glitch thing is happening again. I don’t if it’s just me but I thought one of you guys should know
What’s the issue?
Remember this VW? I guess they’re speaking out of experience.
Oh boy I completely forgot about the Taro
And I thought the Amarok was their first pick-up truck.
Learned something today, thanks.
A few weeks ago this car came into my life. In 15 years of living I never noticed this car and now, that’s the 5th one in three weeks….
Sour grapes when this got replaced by the G-wagon
What if VW bought Holden? How would that be like..
I will say it’s the easiest way for a new car to begin it’s journey.
It might be based on a Navara bones. But if it did sell good, the X class can very possible get updated with new part, generated from the sales and after a while we might see a pure MB X class.