The ambitious cost savings plan launched by the new Mercedes-Benz CEO, Ola Källenius, is said to have unexpected effects: it seems the German brand will prematurely retire the X-Class pick-up.
That is, if we can believe the news coverage of the normally well-informed Automotive News economic publication. According to AN, which relies on unspecified sources within Mercedes-Benz, the brand with the star is prepared to pull the plug on the X-Class in the short term.
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Daimler’s new chief has been working for a few months on an initiative called “Move” and which would see administrative costs fall by about 20%, saving Daimler several billion euros. Mercedes-Benz will soon start to implement these cost savings, and the not-so successful pick-up in our part of the world is said to be the first victim. The X-Class was introduced around the world in 2017, but was not successful.
Under the skin the car shares its genes with the Nissan Navara, a pickup truck sold elsewhere in the world by Renault as Alaskan. A big difference with the Navara and Alaskan: the X-class is also available with Mercedes’ own 3.0-liter V6 diesel.
The X-class built in Barcelona, Spain, is said to have found a total of less than 17,000 buyers in Europe, South Africa and Australia. A line was also recently drawn to suspend the previously announced plans to build the X-Class in Argentina for the South American market.
