It’s not possible to just stick a V8 in a Navara.
In June this year, Mercedes-Benz confirmed through the voice of the man in charge of the X-Class’ development, Frank Schumacher, that it is considering a more powerful version of the pickup. Now, it turns out the company has no plans to put a V8 under the hood of the Nissan Navara-based vehicle and this was revealed by Mercedes-AMG president Tobias Moers.
Moers stated to the media that there will not be an X-Class AMG during Texas’ launch of the GT 4-Door Coupe. “Never.”
The V6 diesel will be the range-topper, but that’s not to say it isn’t possible. This is a good thing for a compact pickup. However, a V8 twin turbo under the hood would have made it one the fastest and most capable trucks on the planet.
Moers believes that an AMG-tuned X-Class is inappropriate. Moers believes that AMG’s hardcore roots don’t reflect the Japanese-French origins for the pickup.
“AMG culture wouldn’t be a good fit with Renault and Nissan cultures.”
This basically means that the X350d 4Matic will continue to be the most powerful version ever of the brand’s first pickup. The 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine produces 255 horsepower (190kW) and 550 Newton meters (406 pound-feet). These figures are good for the European and Australian pickup segment, but American customers love V8s for their trucks. This is why the X-Class will not be available on this side of the pond.
Brabus can help you if the stock power isn’t enough. The tuning program for the engine of 2.3-liters adds 21 horsepower (15 kW) as well as 42 lbft (60 Nm), to the factory numbers. A V6 upgrade should be in the works.
