Pretoria - It’s been long-rumoured that Mercedes-Benz was planning to cull the X-Class bakkie, but now it’s been officially confirmed.
After enquiring about the future of the double cab bakkie range, a spokesperson from Mercedes-Benz Vans SA sent us a statement confirming that from the end of May 2020, the X-Class will no longer be produced. However, the company added that it would still serve the “current demand” for the bakkie range and that service and warranty coverage would continue to be assured by Mercedes-Benz Vans.
“With the X-Class launch in 2017, Mercedes-Benz entered into a new segment and presented a mid-size pick-up. We drew in a lot of attention with this vehicle,” Mercedes-Benz said.
“In our global product portfolio, the X-Class is a niche product which plays a great role in a few markets, including Australia and South Africa.
“Already in the first quarter of 2019, we decided that the X-Class would not be built in Argentina as planned. The reason for this was, above all, that the price expectations of the Latin American customers have not been economically viable.”
Although the initial news of the X-Class bakkie’s arrival just about broke the internet, it proved controversial after its launch, with many feeling that the flashy double cab did not justify the huge price premium that it commanded over the Nissan Navara that it was based on through the company's ties with the Nissan-Renault Alliance.
In South Africa the X-Class currently sells for between R642 000 and R973 000, while its Navara cousin can be had for between R504 500 and R683 200, although the X-Class does at least offer a V6 diesel engine in the million-rand range-topper.
But regardless of that, the X-Class bakkie’s price positioning has done it no favours and sales have been slow. Although individual sales figures have not been disclosed,
reported that less than 17 000 of them were sold in key markets in 2018.