Report: Daimler to Kill Mercedes Pickup Truck

Daimler AG plans to drop the midsize Mercedes-Benz pickup truck it introduced less than two years ago, sources tell Automobilwoche.

Mercedes sold only 16,700 of the X-Class premium trucks last year. The model has been marketed in Australia, Europe and South Africa, but not the U.S.

Daimler developed the X-Class in a cooperative partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance. The truck shares its body-on-frame platform with the Renault Alaskan and Nissan Navara (called the Frontier in the U.S.).

All three pickups are assembled at Nissan’s plant in Barcelona.

But at a European base price of €37,300 ($41,800), the Mercedes pickup has been a pricy rival to the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok with which it competes. The truck also has been plagued with multiple recalls.

In February, then-CEO Dieter Zetsche scrapped plans to produce the X-Class at a Renault-Nissan alliance factory in Argentina and offer the truck in South America.