Mercedes-Benz has released global sales figures for its X-Class for 2019, listing South Africa as one of the “largest markets” for the bakkie.

The Stuttgart-based firm says “approximately 15 300” units of the X-Class were sold worldwide in 2019. It’s worth pointing out that some 16 700 units of the Nissan Navara-based bakkie were registered across the world in 2018.

“The largest markets for the pick-up with the three-pointed star [in 2019] were Germany, Great Britain, Australia and South Africa,” the firm said in a statement, claiming “double-digit growth and record unit sales” were achieved in each of these countries.

Of course, it’s not clear exactly how many X-Class units have been sold locally since the bakkie’s launch in May 2018 (nor in 2019 alone), as the German brand doesn’t report individual model sales in South Africa (we’ve asked Benz’s commercial division to provide numbers before but didn’t ever hear back).

In October 2019, Mercedes-Benz described its X-Class as a “niche product”, adding it was “reviewing” the role of the bakkie in its range. Nissan builds the X-Class alongside the Navara (and Renault Alaskan) under an agreement between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.

In July 2019, however, a report suggested the Stuttgart-based firm had plans to axe the bakkie as part of its efforts to “reduce costs amid profit warnings”. Rumours of the bakkie’s impending demise continue to swirl with no official word from Mercedes-Benz...

Original article from Car