There have probably already been more appropriate times to bring such a car to the market. A whole country is talking about exhaust gas scandals, driving bans, the end of the combustion and the changeover to electric cars, and Daimler is starting with a massive pick-up.
The new X-Class is a heavyweight with loading area, mainly diesel drive, and after an electric motor the customer needs at least not at all to ask at first. The Stuttgart-based coachman is thus pushing into a new segment for him. And the home market of Germany plays a secondary role.
Germany is not the main market
The X-Class, scheduled for the end of the year in Cape Town, will first appear in Europe on the market at the end of the year, but also soon in South Africa and Australia, where Daimler sees significantly more potential than in the home where pick-ups are a niche market. "We can not only build vehicles of which we sell the most - or a high percentage - in Germany," says the head of the Mercedes-Benz Vans, Volker Mornhinweg. "Germany is not a major market today."
When it comes to Daimler, the success of the sport utility vehicle - SUV - called sporty off-road vehicles - is repeated in the mid-size pick-ups, which include the X-Class. They also made it out of the area into the city. Originally thought to be a working animal, the pick-ups to the lifestyle car could be brought to the same level thanks to higher-quality equipment, says Mornhinweg.
A market with growth potential
However, Willi Diez from the Institute of Automotive Engineering in Geislingen is skeptical. "I do not believe that one can make the pick-up a trend segment," he says. He was, in the first place, a commercial vehicle, with which hardly anyone would go to the opera in the evening.
From the last 2.2 million vehicles worldwide, the market for mid-size pick-ups could grow to around 3.2 million by 2026, expects Daimler - especially in Australia, but also in Argentina or Brazil, where the car is scheduled to arrive in 2019 Market is to come. To North America, where Ford, GM, Dodge or even Japanese manufacturers are active, the X-Class does not come. Mornhinweg argues that even bigger pick-ups are needed, but they can hardly be sold elsewhere.
Is the new strategy only useful on the US market?
For Diez, however, a pick-up strategy generally only makes sense if at least the US market is also looked at in the long term. With the medium-sized X-Class, Daimler is likely to have the resonance, in order to get even bigger, he says.
In general, no manufacturer can allow the entire market to be excluded, says Peter Fuss, expert at the Ernst & Young company. "The US is the classic pick-up market," he says. Every craftsman and every farmer there is dependent on such a car.
The hurdle for entry into the segment is comparatively low for Daimler as a whole. An average three-digit million sum will cost the Stuttgarters the new ones. Because it is produced in a production group with Renault-Nissan, no new production equipment is necessary. The X-Class is built in the Renault and Nissan plants in Spain and Argentina.
VW has also discovered the pick-up for himself
In the markets that are now being targeted, Daimler is also meeting with its competitors from Germany. The VW Amarok, likewise a pick-up, runs according to a speaker of Volkswagen commercial vehicles meanwhile "very good, it is very popular". In the first half of the year, 37,700 vehicles were sold - 5.5 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. Also the massive Volkswagen with the flatbed is offered in Europe, South America, Australia and South Africa. "These are our strong markets."
As far as the focus on diesel engines is concerned, Daimler calls on global demand: gasoline cars are possible, but currently simply not desired by customers. Even a (partial) electric variant is not to be excluded in the long run at least. Unlike the US electric car pioneer Tesla, who wants to unveil an e-pickup no later than April 2019, this is not an issue. "I do not see that at the moment," says Mornhinweg.
More@ https://www.technapping.com
Source: Business Insider
The new X-Class is a heavyweight with loading area, mainly diesel drive, and after an electric motor the customer needs at least not at all to ask at first. The Stuttgart-based coachman is thus pushing into a new segment for him. And the home market of Germany plays a secondary role.
Germany is not the main market
The X-Class, scheduled for the end of the year in Cape Town, will first appear in Europe on the market at the end of the year, but also soon in South Africa and Australia, where Daimler sees significantly more potential than in the home where pick-ups are a niche market. "We can not only build vehicles of which we sell the most - or a high percentage - in Germany," says the head of the Mercedes-Benz Vans, Volker Mornhinweg. "Germany is not a major market today."
When it comes to Daimler, the success of the sport utility vehicle - SUV - called sporty off-road vehicles - is repeated in the mid-size pick-ups, which include the X-Class. They also made it out of the area into the city. Originally thought to be a working animal, the pick-ups to the lifestyle car could be brought to the same level thanks to higher-quality equipment, says Mornhinweg.
A market with growth potential
However, Willi Diez from the Institute of Automotive Engineering in Geislingen is skeptical. "I do not believe that one can make the pick-up a trend segment," he says. He was, in the first place, a commercial vehicle, with which hardly anyone would go to the opera in the evening.
From the last 2.2 million vehicles worldwide, the market for mid-size pick-ups could grow to around 3.2 million by 2026, expects Daimler - especially in Australia, but also in Argentina or Brazil, where the car is scheduled to arrive in 2019 Market is to come. To North America, where Ford, GM, Dodge or even Japanese manufacturers are active, the X-Class does not come. Mornhinweg argues that even bigger pick-ups are needed, but they can hardly be sold elsewhere.
Is the new strategy only useful on the US market?
For Diez, however, a pick-up strategy generally only makes sense if at least the US market is also looked at in the long term. With the medium-sized X-Class, Daimler is likely to have the resonance, in order to get even bigger, he says.
In general, no manufacturer can allow the entire market to be excluded, says Peter Fuss, expert at the Ernst & Young company. "The US is the classic pick-up market," he says. Every craftsman and every farmer there is dependent on such a car.
The hurdle for entry into the segment is comparatively low for Daimler as a whole. An average three-digit million sum will cost the Stuttgarters the new ones. Because it is produced in a production group with Renault-Nissan, no new production equipment is necessary. The X-Class is built in the Renault and Nissan plants in Spain and Argentina.
VW has also discovered the pick-up for himself
In the markets that are now being targeted, Daimler is also meeting with its competitors from Germany. The VW Amarok, likewise a pick-up, runs according to a speaker of Volkswagen commercial vehicles meanwhile "very good, it is very popular". In the first half of the year, 37,700 vehicles were sold - 5.5 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. Also the massive Volkswagen with the flatbed is offered in Europe, South America, Australia and South Africa. "These are our strong markets."
As far as the focus on diesel engines is concerned, Daimler calls on global demand: gasoline cars are possible, but currently simply not desired by customers. Even a (partial) electric variant is not to be excluded in the long run at least. Unlike the US electric car pioneer Tesla, who wants to unveil an e-pickup no later than April 2019, this is not an issue. "I do not see that at the moment," says Mornhinweg.
More@ https://www.technapping.com
Source: Business Insider
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