If Mercedes can build the X-Class, why not?
In the past, BMW has built a few mini-truck concepts such as the 2011 M3 Pickup shown above. Still, it’s hard to imagine the brand that sold the E30 M3 and the E39 M5 actually adding a pickup truck to its lineup. If BMW Australia gets its way, though, that may actually happen.
Speaking to Australia’s CarAdvice, Marc Werner, head of BMW Australia, made it clear that he thinks BMW needs some sort of answer to the Mercedes-Benz X-Class. “We have been very pushy regarding utes or pickups, and we believe that this is something the company should be looking into,” said Werner. “We have raised that with headquarters and certainly investigations are happening as we speak, but it’s too early to speak about the results of that analysis, but if there was a ute we would certainly take it.”
The way he sees it, if customers want a BMW with a truck bed, the German automaker should offer them one. “At the end of the day, we need to cater for what the customer and consumer want—and then the question is, does it fit with the BMW DNA and BMW brand promise, or are we over-stretching the brand? That is the core question that needs to be answered,” Werner said.
So is a BMW pickup truck actually happening? “From a pure engineering perspective, everything is possible,” he said. “The question is, what does the brand stand for and how far you want to stretch it?”
Twenty years ago, we would have assumed a BMW pickup truck was too much of a stretch. But after successfully introducing the X5 back in 1999, then turning the X1 into a front-wheel-drive crossover and filling almost every possible niche in the market, BMW’s probably a little more open to trying some different ideas.
2011 BMW M3 pickup concept pictured below
Source: CarAdvice