Now in its 33rd year, the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen—a.k.a. the G-class—is in better shape than ever. This comes after the plan hatched a few years ago to replace the military-derived vehicle with the GL-class, a modern seven-passenger SUV built on a stretched M-class platform. (The second-gen GL is due this year; info and spy photos are here.) But continued strong sales convinced the company to keep the G in its portfolio, and a particular source of joy for the brand had been the remarkable success of its powerful and expensive AMG derivative, the G55. That model was discontinued after the 2011 model year—read our test and exit interview here—and was powered by the brand’s “beloved” (to borrow a word from AMG boss Ola Källenius) supercharged 5.5-liter V-8.
Now Mercedes-Benz is readying its next refresh of the G, which should banish the traces of 1990s design still scattered throughout the interior. This will include the adoption of the central COMAND knob to control infotainment functions, likely along with other more-modern M-B switchgear and displays. We don’t expect many exterior changes outside of perhaps minor bumper and lighting updates; the G-Wagen will look as the G-Wagen should when it arrives this spring. And if anything, given Benz’s current, aggressively angular styling language, the brutal SUV will at least sort of fit in stylistically with its showroom brethren. So long as they don’t mess with the bolt-action ka-CHUNK door locks, we’ll be good.
But there’s more: Mercedes-AMG is working on a G63, as depicted in the spy photos in this post, to replace the departed G55. Some rumors have pegged the next G AMG as a V-12–powered G65, but we’re hearing that’s not the case; rather, the G63 will adopt the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 now installed in most of the current AMG 63 models. Like its predecessor, the G63 won’t defy physics on a twisty road, but it will be one of the most intimidating, loud, awesome, and seriously bad-ass vehicles extant.
No comments:
Post a Comment