Mercedes has spent the last few years valiantly plugging every car
niche possible. But there’s one rather gaping hole in its portfolio: a
one-tonne pick-up.
It’s a highly-lucrative market, especially in places like Latin
America, South Africa and Australia. And Merc is throwing a rather large
stack of chips (nine figures, apparently) its way. So meet the new
Mercedes-Benz X-Class, a pick-up with a penchant for posh.
To show how serious it is at wading into this crowded and competitive
market, Mercedes has produced not one, but two X-Class concepts: the
‘Powerful Adventurer’ (Ray Mears on steroids) and the ‘Stylish Explorer’
(Ranulph Fiennes in Ugg boots and a cashmere scarf).
Let’s start with the ‘Stylish Explorer’. It embodies Mercedes belief
that it can sway buyers and pick-up philosophy by adding more car-like
features and creature comforts to a normally grubby and utilitarian arm
of motoring.
As you can see, it’s very swanky. The front end is stylised with a
bulbous ‘power dome’ bonnet, huge air intakes and muscular wheel arches.
It wears the same face as Mercedes SUVs, but the single-louvre grille
with the three-pointed star smack bang in the middle is a nod to
the coupé road cars. And check out the back: there’s an illuminated
taillight that runs the whole perimeter of the tailgate. Very nice.
Although the bling 22-inch alloys look rather tremendous, they’ll be
more suited to Bicester Village than the backcountry.
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