Your Luxury-Pickup Fix is Coming as Mercedes’ Pickup is Set to Debut in October

Mercedes X-Class Teaser Sketch (Credit: © Mercedes)

At one point, Mercedes’ consumer-pickup aspirations were just speculation, but they have since become a reality as the company has been pretty open about it. Today, a new report from Auto Express indicates that we could get a preview of the Benz pickup by the end of the year.

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Auto Express’ folks spoke with insiders at Mercedes who confirmed that a concept version of the X-Class—the working title for the upcoming pickup—will show its face later this year. This makes the logical landing spot for the upcoming lux-truck the 2016 Paris Auto Show in October.

What’s more, Mercedes Vans’ CEO, Volker Mornhinweg, told the British publication that the brand plans to have a pickup truck on the market by the end of 2017. Chances are that this pickup will start its run in Europe before making its way to the U.S., so a 2018 debut in the States is a good guesstimate.

While the final design is still under lock and key, the above sketch gives us an idea of the direction Mercedes is going. Clearly, this will not be a rough-and-tumble pickup designed with the likes of the Ford F-150 in its crosshairs. Instead, this Nissan Navara-underpinned model will take aim at the midsize segment.

With the Navara as its donor, the most likely initial powerplant will be Nissan’s 2.3-liter diesel engine, which tops out at 188 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Typically, I would say that there is no chance of the diesel engine making it to the U.S., but we are seeing more and more diesel engines in pickups.

We’ll bring you more info as we get closer to the X-Class’ debut.