Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck Will Be Named the GLT

Giancarlo Perlas April 16, 2015

An official sketch showing the design of the Mercedes-Benz Pickup Truck.

A Daimler executive revealed that the official model name of the Mercedes-Benz pickup truck will be the GLT. The information was provided by none other than the head of the Mercedes-Benz Vans division, Volker Mornhinweg, to Car Magazine.

It should be noted that Mornhinweg is also the one at the helm of the three-pointed star brand’s pickup truck project. That explains why he was the one who unveiled the plans for the new product of Mercedes to the press and why he has been the one speaking about it a lot lately.

The exec explained that the reason for the development of the Mercedes-Benz pickup truck was global market expansion. However, he told Car Magazine that they will not be developing a “fat cowboy truck for North America”. That means the GLT will be sold as a premium product instead of a utility vehicle that will compete with America’s top three manufacturers of pickup trucks namely Ford, GM/GMC, and Ram.

Mornhinweg discussed that the mentioned giant pickup truck producers in the U.S. already own about 90 percent of the North American market. Thus, he hinted that they would rather focus on areas that will look at the GLT as a premium product such as South America, the Middle East, and Africa.

When pressed about the estimated figures for the worldwide demand of a premium pickup truck such as the GLT, Mornhinweg refused to give his forecast. He did not talk as well about the targeted release of the Mercedes-Benz GLT. However, the source claimed it might be sometime between late 2018 or early 2019.