With its launch tomorrow morning, Mercedes-Benz has shown the world a glimpse of its new one-tonne vehicle
Ahead of it’s unveiling at an event in Sweden overnight, Mercedes-Benz has teased its first ute.
In what is assumed will be a pickup vehicle, the new Benz will be released to the world in Stockholm and will hopefully come with information on an Australian release date.
The event, which will take place at 3:30am on Wednesday, would see the brand expand its commercial vehicle reach from the Vito, Sprinter and Valente vans.
With a strong presence in the heavy vehicle and the personal car markets, the new ute would provide Daimler with a more-rounded product offering.
The news of the new product range came from Daimler itself over a year ago, when it announced plans to enter “a promising segment” with the design of a one-tonne pickup.
To be initially targeted at Latin America, South Africa, Australia, and Europe, the manufacturer placed the responsibility on its Mercedes-Benz Vans division, a decision welcomed by its chief Volker Mornhinweg, and a partnership with Renault-Nissan.
“As part of our ‘Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global’ strategy, the pickup is the ideal vehicle for the international expansion of our product range with a newly developed model,” Mornhinweg said.
“We can perfectly serve customers looking for a vehicle that offers a high level of utility and at the same time has the comfort, safety, and design of a Mercedes-Benz passenger car.
“We will design our brand’s first pickup according to this recipe for success.”
Daimler revealed in April last year the deal with Renault-Nissan meant the new pickup would share “some of the architecture with the all-new Nissan NP300 but it will be engineered and designed by Daimler to meet the specific needs of its customers.
“The vehicle will have all of Mercedes Benz’ distinctive characteristics and features,” it confirmed.
The agreement will also see the pickup built at plants run by Nissan and Renault in Cordoba, Argentina and Barcelona, Spain alongside one-tonne pickups from those brands.
The new Mercedes-Benz pickup will enter an Australian market full of like-minded vehicles but, with its history of luxury vehicles, it may have a point of difference.
A live stream of the launch event is available here.
To see what it will be competing with, read our review of the fresh-faced Holden Colorado going head-to-head against Toyota’s market leading Hilux.
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A newly revamped Colorado has landed, Matt Wood pits the fresh-faced Holden against Toyota’s market leading Hilux. |
Or our Ute Shootout, where eight of the best dual cab 4×4 utes fought tooth and nail to be crowned the best in the country.
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We assemble eight of the country’s best dual cab 4×4 utes for 3 days of good old fashioned mud bashing, off-roading and circle work. Matt Wood looks at the good, the not so good, and the ugly. |