On Tuesday (16 July), Automotive News Europe reported that the joint venture pick-up which shares its underpinnings and various components with the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan is facing the axe due to sales of just 16 700 in its key markets, Europe, Australia and South Africa, since debuting two years ago.
One of the most expensive pick-ups on sale today with a starting price of €37 294 (R585 888) in its home market, $46 500 (R457 206) Down Under and R642 103 here at home, the X-Class, which is built alongside the Navara and Alaskan at the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance’s Barcelona plant in Spain, has had its future thrown into the balance following the arrest of the alliance’s former CEO, Carlos Ghosn, earlier this year, which resulted in the three-pointed star’s parent company, Daimler, allegedly re-considering its partnership with the French/Japanese company.
In a subsequent replay however, Mercedes-Benz Australia, responding to questions from caradvice.com.au, stated that the X-Class, whose sales have increased 48% to 1090 units over the first six months of this year, albeit due to heavy discounts, remains part of its model line-up for the foreseeable future.
“Our positioning to anything that’s written in the European report overnight is that we do not comment on speculation. To your questions, all I can say is that the X-Class is a fixed component of our Mercedes-Benz Vans product portfolio for Australia. We are focused on continuing to establish the product in the Australian market.”
On local shores, sales of the X-Class have been harder to establish as Mercedes-Benz only started revealing separate passenger and commercial vehicle sales figures to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (NAAMSA) in February this year.
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