The Mercedes-Benz X-Class will end production this year in May, just three years after it went on-sale globally and just two years after being released here in Australia.
Mercedes-Benz has finally announced it is killing the X-Class this year (in May) with production around three years after it went on-sale around the world. Locally, the X-Class has been on-sale for two years, and last year (2019) managed to shift just 2126 units (mixed 4X2 and 4X4. That was up on sales in 2018 but still a long way behind the front runners.
Read This: We drive the X-Class in Albania
The news the X-Class would end production this year was confirmed in German motoring publication Auto Motor und Sport Mercedes-Benz had already announced a second production facility in Argentina wouldn’t go ahead as planned with Mercedes suggesting the X-Class was a niche product with a role to play only in places like Australia. And the market is too small here to be of any real significance.
No matter the argument made by Mercedes that the X-Class was the world’s first premium ute, most here in Australia and around the world saw it as nothing more than an expensive Nissan Navara. Indeed, around the world in the first half of 2019, Navara sold more than 66,000 units while the X-Class managed just 15,300, said Auto Motor und Sport.
Read this: Unsealed 4X4 tests the Mercedes-Benz X-Class
The arrival of the more-power and more-Mercedes (mechanically speaking) X-Class V6 should have helped the cause and it no doubt did with sales up here in 2019 compared to 2018 but, again it was deemed as being too expensive and just not rugged enough despite its actual off-road capability.
So, locally, expect the X-Class to remain on-sale for some time and expect dealers to honour service schedules and warranty claims going forward. We’d suggest if you haggle with a dealer you could get yourself quite the bargain on a V6 variant.
Question: Do you think it’s sad the X-Class is being axed, what could Mercedes have done to improve sales?
