Ute a stylish offering

MANUFACTURERS worldwide continue to jump on the ute bandwagon, with MercedesBenz Vans the latest to offer a stylish workhorse.

The new XClass ute (above) will be launched in Europe in November. Australia and South Africa will follow early next year.

There are three design and equipment variants — Pure, Progressive and Power — as well as four or sixcylinder engines, rearwheel drive and engageable or permanent allwheel drive, a sixspeed manual transmission and a sevenspeed automatic transmission.