It was bound to happen eventually. Mercedes-Benz has been fortifying its commercial- and consumer-truck lineup, filling niches and expanding product capabilities in an attempt to cover all the bases and the outfield too. Even so, when today’s announcement that the German automaker has plans to produce a mid-size pickup crossed our news desk, we immediately checked the calender to make sure April Fools’ day hadn’t snuck up on us. A call to Mercedes confirmed that the maker’s pickup plans are, in fact, legit.
Citing the large volumes of the mid-size pickup market (worldwide, if not in the United States), Mercedes says development of the as-yet-unnamed pickup will be handled by the company’s Van division. It initially will be targeted at South Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. No decision on the U.S. market has been made.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, recently displayed a clay model of the extended-cab truck and stated, “As part of our ‘Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global’ strategy, the pickup is the ideal vehicle for the international expansion of our product range with a newly developed model.” Mornhinweg declined to nail down a release date or the amount of investment required to bring the vehicle to market. An official Mercedes statement claims the truck will be ready by the end of the decade.
The WSJ also reports that the cab “sports two rows of seats,” and “will contain many of the same interior components and features typical of Mercedes-Benz cars and vans. There will be a luxury version with leather interior and chrome furnishings. And there will be a more robust version with a washable interior for the workhorse.” The truck will carry a payload of about one metric ton (2200 pounds) and come “with four- or six-cylinder engines.”
Mercedes says that commercial and private users are increasingly asking for vehicles that have car-like specifications, and–citing their previous success with the introduction of the M-Class–figures it might as well be the first premium manufacturer to get in the pickup game. Optimistic as Mercedes’ pickup dreams sound, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Lincoln Blackwood, the Cadillac Escalade EXT, and the Lincoln Mark LT, three almost-forgotten buoy markers demarcating the danger zone for those considering entering the “premium” pickup truck segment. But hey, if Benz can bring the tradesman-focused “workhorse” version in at a competitive price and sell enough to pay the bills, then by all means bring on the AMG and Maybach variants. Sometimes you have to make a little sense before you can get crazy.
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