Ouch.
The Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute has certainly made waves in the industry, being the very first upmarket luxury utility of its kind, and certainly on the market. With the only real competition coming from the more mass-market Volkswagen Amarok, the X-Class has enjoyed a great degree of interest since its launch, though not everyone is impressed.
A senior executive from BMW has taken a swing at Merc’s luxo-ute, saying that it doesn’t embody the brands’ values nor does it upkeep the quality and experience expected of something from Stuttgart. According to Hendrik von Kunheim, BMW’s senior vice president of Asia, South Africa and Australia, the Nissan Navara-based X-Class was incredibly disappointing, given the capabilities that Mercedes-Benz has on hand.
“When you look now at our German competitor from Stuttgart, I think that [X-Class] is appalling. You would have expected something more serious. I saw that car in Geneva, and was actually disappointed, very disappointed. They can do better, and they build fantastic cars, but this one was a disappointment.” — Hendrik von Kunheim, Senior Vice President for Asia, South Africa, Australia, BMW AG
Von Kunheim’s opinions are those shared with motoring hacks worldwide, who have remarked that the X-Class fails to live up to the standards of tactility and luxury that Mercedes-Benz is famed for, and doesn’t put enough distance design-wise between itself and the Nissan Navara that spawned it.
Though Mercedes’ attempt at a luxury ute might not meet BMW’s standards, it doesn’t kill the idea of a luxury ute for the latter brand. Von Kunheim reckons that there may be space for a luxury ute bearing the BMW badge, though not for the time being. The executive says that “BMW engineers have looked into the details,” though he didn’t say much more about the matter. Far more chatty was BMW Australia managing director Marc Werner who, understandably, is very excited at the idea of a Munich luxury ute.
“Having been in Australia for more than three years, I personally believe that there is room for a luxury ute, which is not there at this point. I believe our company could play a crucial role to fulfil that niche, but it’s a matter of time when this will happen. For me, it’s clear: If the market goes to an SUV share of 60%-70%, there is also space for a ute.” — Marc Werner, managing director, BMW Australia
While the Mercedes-Benz X-Class is a body-on-frame ute with underpinnings borrowed from Nissan, a potential BMW ute would most probably make use of the brands’ CLAR (cluster architecture) and adopt a monocoque construction, which would allow for the BMW ute to feel and drive like a BMW should. That said, a BMW ute is still some time away, with Werner suggesting that even if it was approved today, it would still be about 3-years or so before it can make production.
Further underlining the business case, Werner mentioned that any moves on the ute front would have to be a coordinated effort from the various markets where such a product would perform strongest. However, the ute project will likely take a backseat for the time being as the Munich brand pushes for electrification across the board.
“It [the ute project] has to be a collaborative approach across Australia, South Africa, Russia, Brazil… those kinds of markets, where the ute segment is exploding. However, we need to invest in electric cars, where at the moment, it’s not really a great profit opportunity. So the financial burden on any company in the car business is the highest it has been in the last century. So you need to prioritise. And from all the priorities, the ute is maybe not number one, or number two priority.” — Marc Wagner, managing director, BMW Australia
Foreseeing backlash from purists if the marque pushes into the ute segment, von Kunheim suggested that it would they would just weather the storm rather than concede, the same way they did when they first looked at sports utility vehicles some two decades ago. “Now we have an X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7, and who knows what else is coming. BMW should not exclude itself from leading the market.”
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