Mercedes Nissan Pickup

Mercedes Partners With Nissan on New Global Pickup

Quote :

Mercedes-Benz will partner with Nissan for a new premium global pickup truck scheduled to debut sometime close to 2020. But the platform the new pickup will use won't be the all-new full-size Titan.

According to The Wall Street Journal (requires subscription), talks are already in the advanced stages and the platform M-B wants to use is the Nissan Navara, or Frontier as it's called in the U.S.

With this new vehicle, Mercedes plans to target major global markets like South Africa, South America, Europe and Australia — spinning the new pickup as "rough luxury."

The Nissan global platform is reportedly scheduled for a significant redesign in the next few years to better compete with the major players in the global arena, like the ubiquitous Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi L200. Here in the U.S., the Frontier is scheduled to be significantly upgraded as well to better compete with the new 2016 Toyota Tacoma and the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, but not that's not likely for at least two years.

Early reports suggest that Mercedes will use its own powertrains but rely on Nissan and its global plants to produce the remainder of the vehicle. Some analysts have predicted steady growth in the U.S. midsize pickup market now that GM has now entered the segment with the popular Colorado and Canyon, but no other manufacturers have announced plans for new entries in this category.

Mercedes-Benz has not announced or implied that it will bring the new "rough luxury" pickup to the U.S., where entry-level prices begin in the low- to mid-$20,000 range.

PickupTrucks.com

This gives a little more credibility to our PREVIOUS report.

Very very early in the game. However where does this work? Domestic US or other than like VW? Is there a rough luxury consumer that's not being served outside of the US?

As the US continues to bleed wealth at a considerable pace, this may not be short sighted.

There was a time in North America where the words 'luxury' and 'pickup' didn't go hand in hand. I assume Mercedes think they can be a game changer on the world market just as the Big 3 did here. With the SUV/CUV market booming on the world stage now, adding a bit more utility with a pickup bed only makes sense. And with the new resurgence(?) of mid-sizers here, maybe there's a future for the Mercs in North America as well. Time will tell.