Mercedes-Benz and Nissan are unlikely bedfellows. The German automaker’s lineup typically skews towards high-end fashions, whereas Nissan is a part of an enormous international alliance that principally markets mainstream vehicles with extra affordable value tags. And but the dad or mum teams of Mercedes-Benz and Nissan — Daimler and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance — collaborated on plenty of uncommon tasks, principally within the 2010s.
The 2 corporations formally introduced their strategic partnership in 2010. Initially, they deliberate to collaborate on small vehicles like Daimler’s Good and Renault’s little Twingo, although ultimately they deepened their ties to incorporate plenty of vehicles you’ll have seen in North America. Nonetheless, the alliance fell aside only a decade later, and by 2021 the 2 manufacturers amicably (a minimum of principally) parted methods.
Right here, we’ll check out 5 of these tasks that resulted in shared platforms, engines, and designs.
5
The Infiniti QX30
Infiniti’s smallest crossover was actually a Mercedes-Benz.
Essentially the most seen a part of the tie-up, a minimum of for American shoppers, was the Infiniti QX30, which was recognized overseas because the Infiniti Q30. (Infiniti, after all, is Nissan’s luxurious model.) Regardless of its swoopy seems to be according to Infiniti’s design language on the time, the QX30 was a Mercedes-Benz beneath. Its structure was shared with the automaker’s small A-Class and its GLA-Class SUV. Beneath, the American-spec QX30s used the identical M270-generation 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder because the German automaker fitted to myriad fashions, together with its C300 and E300 sedans in addition to, after all, its GLA250 crossover SUV. Its 174.2-inch general size was barely a pinky’s width longer than the GLA250, and each crossovers weighed round 3,400 kilos in typical kind.
Inside, the QX30 made in depth use of Mercedes-Benz buttons and switches, however there was some stunning Infinitiness to be discovered as soon as the driving force unlocked the automobile utilizing the Mercedes-Benz-sourced key and pushed the Mercedes-Benz-sourced begin button. As an alternative of Mercedes-Benz’s infotainment software program, the QX30 was loaded with Infiniti tech. This will need to have been an enormous endeavor for Nissan’s software program engineers. Was it price it? Given the QX30 solely lasted for 3 mannequin years — 2017 by means of 2019 — the reply might be no.
Additionally, the QX30 was made at Nissan’s meeting plant in Sunderland, England, method up north close to the Scottish border. That made the QX30 a uniquely English-Japanese-German creation. Maybe it ought to apply for all three passports.
4
The Mercedes-Benz X-Class
The Luxurious Pickup No person Wished
Mercedes-Benz is basically recognized to Individuals for its luxurious, high-performance vehicles. The automaker’s present tagline — “The Greatest or Nothing” — definitely performs into its upscale picture. Mercedes-Benz is just not about aspiration; it is about achievement. However Mercedes-Benz has additionally been a producer of vehicles, and for longer than you have been alive. Daimler offered its first truck method again in 1896, and the corporate’s line of Unimogs and Sprinters have been trusted for generations.
So it ought to come as little shock that Mercedes additionally noticed a necessity for a pickup truck. As a part of its partnership with Nissan, the three-pointed star acquired its personal model of the Nissan Navara — a mid-size truck that may be a distant relative of the Nissan Frontier offered within the U.S. The X-Class, which was offered for about 4 years, was constructed by Nissan in Spain, although it was solely out there with Mercedes-Benz-designed turbodiesel engines paired with both 6-speed handbook or 7-speed automated transmissions.
Whereas Mercedes tried to market the X-Class as an upscale alternative, its primary cabin was extra akin to a Sprinter than it was to a GLE-Class SUV. As with the Infiniti QX30, most of the buttons and knobs got here from the donor automobile, however Mercedes noticed match to combine its infotainment software program.
The X-Class was by no means offered within the U.S., although a number of made their option to Latin America.
3
The Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes (COMPAS)
Mercedes-Benz and Nissan constructed vehicles collectively in Mexico.
Mercedes-Benz and Nissan took their relationship to a brand new degree once they moved in collectively at a brand new meeting plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Introduced in 2014, the so-called COMPAS plant started constructing its first vehicles in late 2017. The plant, like so many in Mexico, was designed to reap the benefits of then-low import tariffs for automobiles made within the North American Free Commerce Affiliation (NAFTA) zone.
Initially, Mercedes used it to construct its A-Class sedan, although that mannequin was not a hit within the U.S. market. Mercedes as a substitute shifted to provide its extra standard GLB-Class crossovers, a lineup of comparatively boxy little SUVs with an out there three-row seating configuration. Nissan, for its half, constructed the QX50 and QX55 crossover SUVs on the COMPAS facility till earlier in 2025, when the 2 fashions have been discontinued. As of fall 2025, the one vehicles rolling out of COMPAS are Mercedes-Benz GLBs, nearly all of that are earmarked for sellers within the U.S. and Canada. (Some are offered in Mexico, nevertheless.)
The plant is situated in a serious manufacturing area nicely northwest of Mexico Metropolis. Nissan isn’t any stranger to Aguascalientes, having constructed small vehicles at a pair of crops there for the reason that early Nineteen Eighties. And Mercedes-Benz is not the one German model working there; BMW’s plant in San Luis Potosí is a mere 100 or so miles away.
Between tariff uneasiness within the U.S. and Nissan’s dire monetary scenario globally, the COMPAS plant’s future is in jeopardy. Nissan has mentioned it desires to shut the plant by 2027.
2
The Infiniti Q50 and Q60’s Base Engine
Mercedes-Benz provided its four-cylinder, as soon as once more.
How rapidly we’ve got forgotten about compact luxurious efficiency sedans and coupes. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus barely maintain onto a phase that after dominated headlines and buff-book automobile journal covers. Infiniti was by no means the business’s greatest participant, however its G35 sedan that bowed in 2003 was undoubtedly a game-changer. Its long-overdue 2014 model-year substitute arrived with a bang, and an non-obligatory 400-hp model of the automaker’s twin-turbo V6.
However the information maker for Nissan’s relationship with Mercedes-Benz got here in 2016, when the German model’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine discovered its method into the bottom model of the Q50. With simply 208 hp on faucet, it was no rocket, nevertheless it did assist decrease the value tag. At just below $35,000, the bottom Q50 2.0t was about $5,000 lower than the 300-hp Q50 3.0t. The bottom engine lasted all over the 2019 mannequin yr, when it was jettisoned — whether or not that was resulting from poor gross sales or the truth that Mercedes and Nissan have been about to finish their relationship stays left to historical past.
Yet one more tidbit concerning the Q50: for sure international markets — primarily Europe — the Q50 was out there with a Mercedes-Benz-sourced turbodiesel four-cylinder engine. Curiously, Mercedes did not appear to get something out of this association. The German model by no means acquired entry to Nissan’s clean VR-series twin-turbo from the Q50 400 Crimson Sport.
1
The Good ForFour
Stretching town automobile, on a French-Japanese platform.
To really perceive the Good ForFour, we’ve got to go method again in historical past. The Good model of vehicles constructed and marketed by Daimler wasn’t solely the German automaker’s thought. Its difficult historical past includes enter from Volkswagen and, of all manufacturers, Swiss watchmaker Swatch. Nevertheless it was Daimler that introduced the tiny Good metropolis vehicles to market within the Nineteen Nineties, initially with the backing of Swatch’s dad or mum firm. By the 2010s, nevertheless, Good was a completely Daimler undertaking.
You possible know concerning the Good ForTwo, the mannequin offered right here within the U.S. on and off for round a decade. In Europe, Good toyed with a equally quirky however extra mainstream-configured four-door hatchback referred to as the ForFour. (Its title indicated what number of seats it had.) The unique mannequin was in-built partnership with Mitsubishi, nevertheless it was a gross sales flop and was dropped after simply three years.
Quick-forward to 2014 and Good tried once more, this time with a mannequin that appeared far more like a stretched model of the ForTwo. However, beneath its cheeky pores and skin, the ForFour was a really shut relative of the Renault Twingo — a small automobile made by Nissan’s Renault sibling. Each vehicles have been constructed at Good’s meeting plant in France, which was offered in late 2020 to Ineos for its Grenadier off-roader.
The Good model featured a Mercedes-designed three-cylinder engine, which Nissan used for a number of years in variations of its Micra small automobile.
Sources: Nissan Information, Daimler, Mercedes-Benz Media
