It’s not April Fools day just yet, so believe us when we say that Mercedes-Benz is dead serious when they’ve announced they are developing a mid-size pickup (bakkie to us South African folk), for release before 2020 – with key markets such as South Africa, Australia, and Latin America being targeted as the key markets for the premium pickup.
“The Mercedes-Benz pickup will contribute nicely to our global growth targets,” says Dr. 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.”
Mercedes-Benz is the first premium manufacturer to enter this segment – one of the most dominant segments in the country – and will hand development of the pickup over to the Mercedes-Benz Vans division.
Little else is known at present, but insiders suggest we may see the pickup as soon as 2018, but by 2020 at the very latest. Mercedes-Benz have supplied us with the artists impression above of what the pickup may look like, and from what we can see the pickup may be based loosely on the design of the new GLE SUV (formerly ML), and will feature a double cab cockpit.
Whilst the segment is a popular one, we can’t help but think no one will use the Mercedes pickup as the work horse it’s intended to be. Nevertheless, it’s an exciting prospect leaving us with one or two questions – what will they name the new model, and will there be an AMG variant available?
