Ute fails: why you can't mess with the pickup-truck status quo
Thursday, 25 July 2019
OPINION: Rumours that Mercedes-Benz was likely to discontinue the X-class ute came as a bit of a surprise this month.
Even more surprising if you've driven one, because it's a genuinely good mainstream one-tonne pickup truck.
It's well-known that the four-cylinder X250d model is heavily based on the Nissan Navara - including its 2.3-litre powertrain and running gear - but the Navara is a great truck.
Mercedes-Benz has made so many changes (no body panels are shared, for example) that the X-class really does deserve to be thought of as its own thing. It's particularly impressive in terms of ride and refinement, while giving away nothing in off-road ability and practicality.
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Despite what many seem to think, the X-class is also good value - or at the very least priced head-to-head with the mainstream. Mercedes would never have risked anything else when launched an all-new product into a highly competitive segment.
The X-class goes from cab-chassis to double-cab wellside, the top four-cylinder X250d Power topping out at $69,000 (Ford Ranger Wildtrak money).
The X350d is the jewel in the crown (Three Pointed Star in the sky?) of course, with a Mercedes-Benz V6 powertrain and full-time four-wheel drive system. It tops out at $88,325, which is a lot of money - but still in the same ballpark as high-end models from other makers, like the Ranger Raptor or Volkswagen Amarok V6.
All seems well with the product then, but Mercedes-Benz NZ has sold fewer than 200 X-class models year-to-date. Ford has sold over 5000 Rangers. Most of those Mercs were the flash V6 version, by the way.
Failure to perform globally is the real reason for rumours of the X-class's demise (and they are just rumours, but from a highly credible source: Automotive News Europe).
The X-class was created for lucrative key ute markets like Australasia, South Africa and (to a lesser extent) Europe. Yet it has racked up fewer than 20,000 sales since it went on sale in early 2018.
Or think of it this way: Mercedes-Benz has sold about the same number of X-classes to the world in 2018-19 as Ford has sold Rangers to Kiwis in the same period.
It just goes to show that despite a seemingly endless appetite for utes, a major maker can still misjudge the market.
It's not the first time. Remember when Ford and Mazda launched their new Ranger and BT-50 models simultaneously in 2011? For once, Ford was the lead partner in the project and so Mazda decided to do something radically different with its version and give it car-like styling: smiley grille, curvaceous front guards and even horizontal tail-lights, which was unheard of for a ute. Then or since.
Back then, Ranger and BT-50 were pretty much identical under the skin. The Mazda was arguably a better product - superior ride and a nicer cabin, because it was modelled after the brand's passenger-car interiors.
Fast-forward to 2019 and Ranger has exploded in sales, currently outselling BT-50 four-to-one.
There's a lot more to it than just how the two utes look, of course: different brands, different priorities and strategies. But just to reiterate: Ranger has become more and more trucky with each update and more and more successful.
Speaking of style, you might also remember the fourth-generation Mitsubishi Triton from 2005, which did the brand's image no favours with its bathtub-like styling. Lots of curves, not many angles… people still laugh about it.
Mitsubishi spent the next facelift (2015) trying to straighten it out - literally - and you might note that the latest model has gone right back to an incredibly macho, straight-edged look.
The new Triton is currently a very successful ute, which does have a lot to do with a very sharp price. But just to reiterate - it's become much more trucky and is currently the third-best-selling vehicle in NZ.
So went went wrong with each of these utes? Might be the letter 'M', which is common to all brands. Or maybe it's something a little more tangible.
In my humble opinion - and this is all just my opinion, so don't get excited - for X-class, there seems to have been a greater-than-expected reaction against the Navara base for the four-cylinder model. Even though platform sharing and cross-brand collaboration is commonplace in the automotive industry.
Mercedes made that decision to get the X-class to market quickly, with a stated intention of going it alone for the next-generation model. A model which may now not happen.
And is it just me, or was there an accusation of Mercedes-arrogance in the air from a lot of potential customers? A kind of resentment that a premium brand was trying to crash our Everyman Ute market, not realising that (a) Mercedes-Benz Vans is a long-established maker of light commercials and (b) a separate entity to Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.
Although (b) also means you don't see X-class in every M-B showroom, which is also a mistake.
With the previous Triton and BT-50, it's surely just a matter of style. Both companies tried to be avant garde and introduce some adventurous design into the world of one-tonne utes.
In all three cases, makers tried to give ute buyers something a bit different and challenging. The people spoke with their purchase orders… and they didn't like it.
Ute people are conservative people. They like the same thing dished up all the time and they don't like change. Ute people are a bit like toddlers.
Be warned: don't mess with the ute status quo.