Mercedes-Benz plans to get into the luxury pickup truck segment in the next two years.
After watching the prices for new pickup trucks in the U.S. climb into the luxury stratosphere of more than $50,000 in recent years, Mercedes-Benz is looking to get into the pickup truck market.
Before the end of the decade, Mercedes-Benz will expand its product range into the promising segment by launching the first pickup from a premium manufacturer, the German auto giant announced.
The announcement by Daimler AG underscores the rising interest in the pickup truck market by Asian and European carmakers.
Renault/Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has said the North American pick up truck market is simply too important to pass up and it is growing. Hyundai, which unveiled a pickup prototype at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and Volkswagen have also hinted they are prepared to enter the pickup truck market.
Estimates by IHS Automotive indicate the market for pickup truck could grow from 2.34 million units to about to 2.83 million units in 2020.
Daimler, Mercedes-Benz parent company, already builds heavy-duty trucks, buses and delivery vans of various sizes so the pickup truck isn’t exactly an organizational stretch.
Responsibility for the project has been assigned to company’s van unit.
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With its many years of experience in developing, manufacturing, and marketing vehicles that are used commercially as well as privately, Mercedes-Benz Vans is ideally suited to enter the midsize pickup segment and launch a Mercedes-Benz pickup on the market for the first time in the company’s history.
Current models such as the V-Class and the Vito demonstrate that Mercedes-Benz Vans has the high level of expertise to successfully serve customers from a wide variety of private and commercial sectors, according to Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.
(Click Here for details about Jeep’s consideration of a pickup truck.)
“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,” he said.
Mornhinweg did not specify whether the new Mercedes-Benz pick up would be a full-size entry capable of challenging the Ford F-150, Dodge Ram or Chevrolet Silverado in load capacity and capability or a smaller, midsized model similar to the Toyota Tacoma or GMC Canyon. He also did not say when or where the new pickup truck will be built.
(Mercedes plans to launch 10 new plug-ins by 2017. For more, Click Here.)
“The Mercedes-Benz pickup will contribute nicely to our global growth targets,” said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Division. “We will enter this segment with our distinctive brand identity and all of the vehicle attributes that are typical of the brand with regard to safety, comfort, powertrains, and value.”
This is a tricky deal, even more so than SUVs for a luxury brand. As we’ve seen in the past it’s not so easy for Euro auto makers to understand or get it right when it comes to real pick-up trucks to compete in the U.S. What sells in other countries usually doesn’t cut it in the U.S. where pick-up trucks are generally built for the trades even though they have become fashionable transportation for many in the past few decades. Not only does Mercedes need to have a proper product for the U.S. market, they need to marketed it correctly so as to not compromise their car brand.
I think this article ran a couple of days early.
If its their van division and using their 2200 4 cylinder and 2800 6 cylinder diesels engines one could expect a version like vw and gm new sort of mid size pickups with the same build like their with no frame. Since they announced expansion of their plant in South carolina. Wouldnt take a lot of new sheet metal bending and still use the present poertrain. Though not rated I hear their 4 cylinder pull almost 30 m8les to the gallon. Not bad for a van.