Mercedes-Benz X220 vs Zeekr X

What's the difference?

If there was a feeling at Stuttgart that any vehicle displaying a three-pointed star could do no wrong, the X-Class should be a wake-up call. It's a vehicle that appears to have drawn a line in the sand in terms of what people are prepared to accept as an authentic Mercedes-Benz.

Sure, the fastest and cheapest way into the booming dual-cab ute segment was to piggy-back an existing player, in this case the D23 Nissan Navara, as M-B has a tech-share agreement with the huge Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance. The Navara/X-Class relationship is similar to Ford Ranger/Mazda BT-50 or Isuzu D-Max/Holden Colorado.

But we are talking Mercedes-Benz here. Given the high esteem in which the German marque is held and its pre-eminent off-road heritage, with icons like the Unimog and G-Wagen, the end result has fallen short of understandably high expectations. It's even built in a Nissan plant. Put simply, it over-promised and under-delivered.

However, are perceptions of the X-Class being a rush job or little more than a badge-engineered Navara fair or accurate? We recently put the work-focused entry-level X-Class to work in our search for answers.

Zeekr is making waves in Australia at the moment but it's not because of the car you see before you.

Nope, it’s the 7X mid-size SUV that’s captured a heap of attention and a whole lot of sales. In fact, of the 1832 sales the brand has managed over the first three months of 2026, just 54 were for the X.

But that was the old X and this is the new one. With more power, more performance, faster charging and a whole heap of pretty special equipment, especially for the small SUV segment.

So, is that enough to finally put the X on the map?