Mercedes-Benz quickly pulls the plug on its slow-selling X-Class pickup

Mercedes-Benz is getting out of the pickup truck game not long after it got into it. The brand confirmed that it will cease production of the X-Class midsize pickup in late May due to poor sales.

Mercedes unveiled the X-Class, the brand’s first-ever pickup, in South Africa in 2017 as a 2018 model with no immediate plans to sell it in the U.S. It’s based on the Nissan Navara chassis but is given a number of ride and handling upgrades and is built alongside the Navara and the Renault Alaskan at a Renault-Nissan plant in Barcelona. From the onset, it was targeted for Latin America, Europe and South Africa, with plans at one time to build the truck in Argentina to serve the local market.

“Already in the first quarter of 2019, we decided the the X-Class would not be built in Argentina as planned,” a Mercedes spokesman wrote in a statement sent to Autoblog. “The reason for this was, above all, that the price expectations of the Latin American customers have not been economically viable.

“Now it has been decided that from the end of May 2020, we will no longer produce this relatively young model.”

The news was first reported by German publication Auto Motor und Sport, which says Mercedes sold just 15,300 X-Class trucks globally in 2019.

Mercedes launched the X-Class starting at €37,294 (about $41,227) for the X220d, which used a 2.3-liter four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that made 163 horsepower. It also offered a biturbocharged, 190-hp version of the same engine, available with either a manual or seven-speed automatic. Both of those versions are reportedly no longer on offer, however, so the starting price for the pickup is now €48,790, or just under $54,000. The remaining X-Class is the X350d, which features a 258-hp 3.0-liter diesel V6 and permanent four-wheel drive and a small 166-hp gasoline-powered X200 in limited markets like the Middle East.

Mercedes said it would continue to offer service and warranty coverage for the truck through Mercedes-Benz Vans.

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