When the first Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute lands in New Zealand next year it is set to be on sale in commercial rather than passenger dealerships.
The medium-sized pick up was official launched in Cape Town on Tuesday night (local time) and goes into production in October.
There are three models: Power, Progressive, Pure and variants of the X200, X200d, X250d and the X350d with a V6 diesel available next year.
The X-Class is a collaboration with Renault-Nissan, and for the New Zealand market, will be built in Barcelona, Spain at the Renault-Nissan plant.
The X-Class has a ladder-type frame that will take a payload of more than 1100kg and have a towing capacity of up to 3500kg. It will also have driver assistance systems based on cameras, radars and ultrasound sensors.
A source told Driven that currently only Mercedes-Benz Van dealerships will be selling the X-Class ute, rather than some of company’s NZ’s high profile dealerships, such as Mercedes-Benz Auckland, Botany and Wellington.
Those commercial dealerships include: Ingham Hamilton and Mt Maunganui; Keith Andrew Trucks Whangarei; Mercedes-Benz North Shore, Prestige Commercial Christchurch and the two Truck and Trailer yards.
But a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz Vans NZ said the final dealer network hadn’t been confirmed.
“But the criteria is that the X-Class will be sold through any dealer that sells vans (and that may be a car dealer or a MB Truck dealer),” he said.
“We are working through this issue and have been for some time, and so there will be announcements over time right up to the end of this year.
“I wouldn’t want to be saying specifically which dealers wouldn’t be selling the X-Class, because there are some dealers which don’t sell MB Vans today that might well sell them tomorrow.
“What we have said to every dealer is, right now, are your facilities right for the type of customer you will see, and if not, then let’s see your plan for getting that right. Have you got the space, the workshop capacity?”
The spokesman also said the X-Class, for many dealers ,will be the biggest single selling model in its line up so they need substantial space and capacity.
“So a number of dealers are building or extending at the moment, or making other changes to accommodate X-Class.”
Mercedes-Benz Vans Australia and New Zealand managing director, Diane Tarr, told Driven at the Stockholm launch of the prototype X-Class last year that the company was still considering where the X-Class will be sold, at commercial or passenger dealerships or a combination of both.
“We are considering both. It’s one of those situations where it sits in the middle, in the sweet spot with the passenger car,” she said.
Tarr said when she discusses with her German colleagues the two separate Downunder markets, rather than just ‘Australasia’ .
“I’m always particular with my colleagues that we always talk about Australia and New Zealand … because of the how Hilux and Ranger play a big part in the overall market. So for us it’s an exciting opportunity for New Zealand and it is an important market,” said Tarr.
“We know are main competitors, Volkswagen Amarok, car-like Ranger and of course the Nissan Navara and we are getting more information on the Renault Alaskan so when we look at that we don’t buddle everything together in Australasia, we are quite clear around creating separate identities in the NZ market because there are some differences to some degree.
“It’s important for us to get the specifics of the New Zealand market and opportunities.”
