Interesting Nissan-Benz Joint Venture Story

It all fell apart as Mercedes' multi engine plans were too much for Nissan engineering to keep up with. Another example of Nissan falling short of consumer demands. Gotta wonder where Mercedes' pickup plans land next.

Quote :

Planned to be on the market before the end of 2016, sources have admitted that Benz would have rebadged a full-sized pickup off the Nissan Titan and a midsizer off the next Nissan Frontier. Inspired by Volkswagen’s successes with its Amarok, Daimler negotiated with Nissan to use its truck architectures, complete with chassis, all-wheel-drive systems and suspension systems, though the latter would have received Mercedes-specific tuning.

The pickups were to be Daimler’s most complete transfers from its alliance with Renault-Nissan, but the dramatic expansion fell foul of Benz’s demands for a wide range of engine variants, which Nissan didn’t feel it could engineer the cars to accept. Mercedes-Benz sources said that the two-pickup program would only have worked if it had been allowed to tailor the engines for market demands.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/09/17/mercedes-benz-was-going-to-rebadge-nissan-pickups/?intcmp=features