German automobile giant Mercedes-Benz, surprisingly, has gone ahead to unveil its plans of entering the pickup-truck vertical and is already looking to come up with a concept in the near future. A report by Road and Truck said that though the firm will launch the luxury pickup by 2020, and it will refrain from entering the North American market initially.
Reports claim that this pickup truck will be produced by the commercial vehicle division of Silver Arrows. In an interview with WSJ, Dieter Zetsche, Chief Executive Officer of Daimler, spoke about the main reasons behind entering the pickup segment. "The Mercedes-Benz pickup will contribute nicely to our global growth targets. We will enter this segment with our distinctive brand identity and all of the vehicle attributes that are typical of the brand with regard to safety, comfort, powertrains, and value," he said.
It was also said that since more pickups are being used for private purposes, customers want car like specifications in them, something that Mercedes-Benz would like to draw benefit from. However, the firm’s decision to refrain from entering the United States market, which is the largest in the world for pickups, is both tactical and cautionary. The cynicism from Mercedes-Benz has risen from solid ground as its rival Lincoln tried its hand in the pickup segment and did not perform as expected.
Customers in the United States market, especially the pickup segment, are pretty stern in terms of their demands. This is the reason why Mercedes-Benz cannot afford to launch something mediocre or below par.
