Mercedes-Benz chose the Frankfurt Motor Show 2017 to showcase its new pick-up model, the X-Class. Based on a platform shared with the Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, customers hoped the sharing would stop at the underpinnings but as pics from the premiere showed, it looks like there’s more to it than that. Now a BMW official joined the critic club, with a rather rare stand that doesn’t usually happen, officials from the two companies rarely criticizing each other’s work.
Speaking to Car Advice on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Motor Show, Hendrik von Kuenheim, senior vice president of the company’s Asia, Pacific and South Africa region said he checked out the car and ended up being disappointed by what he saw: “When you look now at our German competitor from Stuttgart, I think that [X-Class] product is appalling. You would have expected something more serious, this is for me… very cheap, very plastic, not very much Mercedes-like. I saw that car in Geneva [motor show] and I was very disappointed. They can do better. They build fantastic cars but this one was a disappointment.”
That’s quite a bold statement from a BMW official, especially considering that the Bavarians don’t really have an alternative to the X-Class at the moment. To be fair, some of the members of the press felt the same way, a lot of them criticizing the way the final product turned out, especially since it’s wearing the Mercedes-Benz badge on the front fascia. Nevertheless, BMW will apparently be looking into making one of these pick-up models as well in the future, because the time is right to do so.
“The fundamental question is now segments, how are the segments developing. I remember heated discussions twenty-something years ago when, [we said] ‘does an SUV fit to a BMW [brand]?’ Now we have an X1, X2, X3, 5, 6, X7 and who knows what else is coming? So the market and customer demand is changing,” added von Kuenheim. That does make sense, especially for the area he oversees, where Australia, Thailand and Malaysia are countries where utes are in high demand.
However, that’s not nearly enough to justify investing into such a niche, since Europeans don’t really care about such models while North American customers prefer larger trucks than a pick-up X5. Whether BMW will make the call and bring out a rival for the X-Class remains to be seen but at the moment, it’s rather obvious that the focus remains on electric vehicles such as the production version of the BMW i Vision Dynamics concept.
Offensive pick-up is right! Biggest sellers in America, no EV. Since they could probably just reconfigure an X5, BMW should shake things up with the 1st plug-in flatbed. Don’t know why Tesla haven’t done it with their SUV, rather than reducing price in face of sales being less than older Model S. Plus BMW could build it here!
A guy in his position should probably just shut his trap about other brands.
What’s wrong with his position? Mercedes pick-up from Renault/Nissan platform? Good for him! Apparently Bangle was getting some shots off @ Frankfurt as well. Would sooner hear from them than p.r.
It just doesn’t seem very classy to comment on other brands while working for BMW.
Class is typing about it on anonymous comment pages.
Oh boy, are you still on your period?
I like their comments. Not your ignorant, classist, sexist ones.
Alrighty then
I don’t really agree. He was very respectful to Mercedes, he literally said that he was disappointed because Mercedes usually “builds fantastic cars”. And he is right. The “Mercedes” X-Class is not Mercedes-worthy at all. It’s a Nissan with a Mercedes badge and a higher price tag. That’s it. It’s not special, it doesn’t even look better with that Mercedes front added to it. He literally said it: “It’s not very Mercedes-like.”
Saw this car in a launch in South Africa, very cheap material used. I was gonna wait for it, but have decided to settle for VW Amarok. Disappointing from Merc.
Exactly my impression too. I saw it as well and was terribly disappointed.
If BMW decide to join the pickup segment, they will also have to partner with someone, since building something from the ground up would be expensive. If the relationship with Toyota works out for the supra/z4 pairing, then perhaps an pickup based off a toyota platform could happen.
Mercedes-Benz doesn’t care, since the whole world is disappointed in BMW.
Because they build pick-ups from the bones of lesser volume brands?
Because they continuously shit on bmw all the way and don’t break every time you hit a pothole!
If the “whole world is disappointed in BMW”, then tell me: why has BMW yet another record breaking year? People are loving a lot of their latest products, which translates in both record sale numbers and profit. So gtfo.