Mercedes pickup to share underpinnings with Nissan

We have already told you that Mercedes-Benz is planning to launch its pickup truck by 2020. There is now new information that Mercedes will be launching this pick up in partnership with Daimler and the Nissan-Renault alliance.

The pickup truck, expected to weigh about a ton, will be built by Nissan and it will be launched after the launch of Renault’s new pickup, which is currently being developed and is set to go into production in 2016. The Mercedes pickup will also be based on this new Renault model.

Both the cars will share some architecture with the Nissan NP 300 Navara, which was originally launched in 2014, but they will be engineered and designed separately by Daimler and Renault, to keep their brand identity intact.

For the three manufacturers, around 1,20,000 cars will be built in Barcelona and around 70,000 cars will be built in Argentina.

Mercedes believes that the mid-size pickup segment is an important market to enter, and it plans to become the “the first premium manufacturer to respond to this market shift”, the double-cab truck will be the company’s first foray into the class. It will target the European, Australian, South African and Latin American markets, but not the North American market.

The alliance between the companies will help in splitting the cost and will also help in optimising production at the plant. This will also enable Nissan-Renault to target new markets in Latin America.

The combined portfolios shared between the manufacturers stand at 13 projects in Europe, Asia and some parts of America. The responsibility of this entire project has been handed over to Volker Mornhinweg, who is the head of Mercedes-Benz Vans division.