by It’s unclear if we’ll see the vehicle here in the U.S., but Mercedes-Benz released an over-the-top video featuring the all-new X-Class pickup to whet our appetites.
The premium pickup will ride on the NP300 platform also used by the Nissan Navara. We last saw the Concept X-Class at this year’s Geneva auto show and a more polished production version can be briefly seen in this one-minute teaser.
Mercedes’ new video looks like a trailer for an upcoming summer blockbuster. It opens with a shot of the earth from space with ominous background music—just like a Transformers movie.
Cut to a shot of giant crashing waves, birds flying, Antarctica, and a massive glacier falling into the sea.
Still there is no sign of the posh pickup, but then we see a charging bull and watch a giant illuminated “X” explode. After a bunch of horses galloping, raindrops, and a tidal wave, we see a spinning tire, a rectangular LED headlight, and finally the pricey pickup.
More dramatic music follows, some thunder and lightning, and then the X-Class zooms off toward a big city at night. Crazy fast too—but wait, then there’s a massive lava flow and a desert, and the truck flies across it like a sandstorm.
Near the end of the short, there’s a close up of the grille with a three-pointed star and a glimpse at simple, vertical LED taillights as the pickup makes it way back to the city.
As it passes across the screen, “First of a new kind” flashes in the center and “Stay tuned for the new X-Class.”
Whew. The X-Class can haul a payload of over 2,400 pounds and tow more than 7,700 pounds, according to the company.
The midsize X-Class is slated to go on sale in Europe, Australia, South Africa, and South America in 2018. It will be built in Argentina and Spain. Plans to bring the X-Class to the North American market are still up in the air.
