BY JENS MEINERS
Had product strategists at Mercedes gotten their way, the G-Wagen wouldn't be with us today. Called “Wolf” by the German military, which ordered 17,000 units back in 1989, this German equivalent of the Hummer H1 did not quite fit into Mercedes' increasingly upscale and urban lineup. Attempts to make it fit in, such as renaming the G-Wagen (short for Gelaendewagen, which means off-roader) the G-class were studiously ignored by its devotees.
Mercedes’ plan to kill the G-Wagen with the introduction of the plush, three-row, kid-friendly GL-class failed. When Stuttgart saw that the highly affluent customer base of the G-Wagen had no interest in the new M-class derivative, the quirky but iconic off-roader got another lease on life.
The G-Wagen continues to prove there still is life in this box as it is upgraded for the umpteenth time. Acknowledging that a perfect shape can't be improved upon, Mercedes left the exterior largely untouched. The taillights already made the switch to a somewhat tacky LED-style look last year. The only visible new change is a new front grille. The square, multi-blade rectangle of a grille gives way to a three-blade look with a more rounded bottom end that bears a striking similarity with the grille of the Mercedes Unimog— an off-road and military truck of unsurpassed ruggedness
Had product strategists at Mercedes gotten their way, the G-Wagen wouldn't be with us today. Called “Wolf” by the German military, which ordered 17,000 units back in 1989, this German equivalent of the Hummer H1 did not quite fit into Mercedes' increasingly upscale and urban lineup. Attempts to make it fit in, such as renaming the G-Wagen (short for Gelaendewagen, which means off-roader) the G-class were studiously ignored by its devotees.
Mercedes’ plan to kill the G-Wagen with the introduction of the plush, three-row, kid-friendly GL-class failed. When Stuttgart saw that the highly affluent customer base of the G-Wagen had no interest in the new M-class derivative, the quirky but iconic off-roader got another lease on life.
The G-Wagen continues to prove there still is life in this box as it is upgraded for the umpteenth time. Acknowledging that a perfect shape can't be improved upon, Mercedes left the exterior largely untouched. The taillights already made the switch to a somewhat tacky LED-style look last year. The only visible new change is a new front grille. The square, multi-blade rectangle of a grille gives way to a three-blade look with a more rounded bottom end that bears a striking similarity with the grille of the Mercedes Unimog— an off-road and military truck of unsurpassed ruggedness
