Mercedes is forging into new territory with the
launch of the X-Class, its first conventional pickup truck. So what do the
performance-obsessed do when an automaker like Mercedes releases a new vehicle? And that's just
what we have here, rendered by the talents at X-Tomi Design.
It looks pretty convincing, with all the telltale
signs of an AMG sport-ute, from the gaping front bumper intakes to the
blacked-out oversized alloys. The question is whether such a vehicle stands a
chance of ever being built.
Predicting the prospects of an
X63 AMG, or even a six-cylinder X43 AMG if the V8 doesn't fit. The ultimate
arbiter, however, may be whether Daimler's friends at the Renault Nissan
Alliance opt to do a Nismo version of the Navara or a Renault Sport version of the Alaskan – a program on which
Mercedes could piggy-back. As enticing as the prospect of Mercedes taking on
the Ford Raptor may seem, though, there's even less chance of the German pickup
ever making it to North America.