After teasing the motoring world ever so slightly, Mercedes-Benz’s social media team has whipped the covers off the latest entry in its long-lived G-Class line, revealing the return of the cabriolet model with a little bit of a twist.
Famously a rugged military vehicle that made the transition to civilian life with ease, to the point of becoming a status symbol for the wealthy, the Gelandewagen is the car that Mercedes has been making longer than any other. Only the literally agricultural Unimog surpasses the G-Class’s 46-year unbroken run.
Historically, if you wanted an open-top G from Mercedes, you had to settle for fewer doors. The classic two-door G-Class Cabriolet was a staple of the W460 and W463 generations for decades, serving as the eccentric sibling to the traditional wagon.
From the rugged, diesel-chugging W461 “Wolf” military variants used by NATO forces to the plush, V8-powered G500 Cabriolets of the early 2000s, the short-wheelbase drop-top was something of a car culture classic – just not a very subtle one.
When Mercedes finally axed the convertible in 2013 with the highly coveted Final Edition 200, it felt like the end of an era as the new G-Class was only available in long-wheelbase form. There was, of course, the utterly insane Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet of 2017, which offered a semi-convertible rear roof for ultra-wealthy rear-seat passengers, but that was a hyper-limited, portal-axled behemoth rather than a production-line drop-top.
Teasers for the G-Class Cabriolet shown last December presented the car as a four-door, and the latest reveal now confirms that to be the case, marking the first time that the standard production G-Class will combine a four-door layout with a folding fabric top.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2265289034221271
The new images and video – showing the power-folding soft top dropping down onto the rear – also confirm that the open-air experience is for all, with the fabric roof comprising a section above the front seats, which articulates back to take the lid off completely. There’s a glimpse of a rather beefy frame around the roof edge, probably to keep the whole car from twisting and as part of an integrated roll structure.
Although Mercedes has kept the camo wrap on much of the rear of the car for reasons known only to itself, there are a few more obvious details. We’ll start with the redesigned rear spare wheel cover, which now features an integrated high-level brake light rather than this being separate as on the prototype shown last year:
There are also some hints that, in this guise at least, the new G Cabriolet will be a performance model first. If the side-exit exhausts, AMG wheels with relatively skinny tires, and AMG plates weren’t enough of a giveaway, the videos also provide some V8 audio which very much suggests the model will debut with a 577hp, four-liter, bi-turbo V8 G63.
The G-Class also has a straight-six G500 model, a turbodiesel G450d in Europe, and the most recently added G580 EQ all-electric variant, but we’ll have to wait and see whether any of these join in the top-off action.
Mercedes is set to reveal the G-Class Cabriolet in full later this year, probably with a pretty handsome price hike over the fixed-roof model. The regular G63 is already a $200,000 car, with the Cabrio likely to join its sibling on the Magna production line in Graz, Austria, which has thus far built over 600,000 examples.
There’s not a lot out there that can match the spectacle of the rolling filing cabinet that is the G-Class, but a convertible version of it certainly hits that spot.
Top graphic image: Mercedes-Benz
They will sell thousands in LA. At least it’ll be nice for Mercedes to have a slam dunk (albeit a niche one) with the horrific state of their lineup.
Looks like a very ugly 4 door Isuzu Amigo. The Isuzu 2 door was better looking and probably $200,000 cheaper. I loved mine
I’m with the commentaries that don’t care. Interesting choices today:
Flip a couple bicycles to make room and cash for a Capri convertable.
Buy a new GWagon convertable or pay off the house and build an addition
Buy a McLarenF1 or buy every house in the whole neighborhood.
I’m here for the shitbox content. Like old Fiestas with pink graphics (not new Broncos). Maybe if the Mecedes ran on steam…
Does that one from 2013 have a Mansfield bar
Build me a brand new 1985 190e, then I’ll care about Mercedes again. Until them, fuck off with this nonsense
About 15 years ago I thought it would be cool to have a G-Wagen, there was an old red one that tootled about in my neighborhood. Those were and still are cool cars, and I think a G63 would be fun for a little while, but honestly these are already very compromised as a luxury vehicle, and adding a convertible top seems idiotic. Not to mention that the looks aren’t helping anything! I weep for ze Germans, but I don’t know who is to blame anymore. Americans obviously buy these things, but I have also seen a fair amount of them around large cities in Europe….
Nope! I still don’t care.
This idiocy is the very last thing that would make me interested in Mercedes again.
The G-Wagen is the wheeled equivalent of those Louis Viton logo handbags – it exists so you can shout to the world how little class you have.
They were cool when they were a better-built German Defender with a modest diesel, plaid seats, and outstanding offroad ability. That was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Just veblen goods at this point of the worst kind. And the way they are equipped out of the box in the US today, all but useless off-road (while still being pretty terrible ON a road), not that the typical tacky trophy wife owner would ever dirty her Pradas doing such a thing.
I have likely taken my E350 wagon further offroad than 99% of US G-wagen owners:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FVdrNUuxgNu5dGxh8
/Dennis Reynolds/ …. Shit, I don’t care either.
This idiocy is the very last thing that would make me care about Mercedes again.
G-Wagens are the wheeled equivalent of those tacky Louis Viton handbags with the logos all over them. They exist to shout to the world at the top of thier lungs how much class you lack.
When they were *actual* military vehicles with a modest diesel and plaid seats they were cool, but they are just veblen goods at this point, driven by the worst sorts of tacky people with debt. I am sure I have taken my E350 wagon further off-road than 99% of the current model G-wagens have ever ventured in the US:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FVdrNUuxgNu5dGxh8
If a typical G-wagen owner did that she might break a nail or get her Pradas dirty.
Being on the old site and Autopian for a while, whenever I read “taking something off-road” I always expect something in the likes of what DT would do with one of his project Jeeps.
My mind is so broken…
Still, you said nothing but the truth.
LOL – it’s actually gotten a LOT worse than when that picture was taken. They raised holy hell installing the septic field, and then they only half installed the drainage culvert at the bottom of the driveway. I still backed the Mercedes up to the garage, as I was using it as lockable tool storage. I should have a driveway in the next week or two though. The doors (and handles and locks) are now installed, so the place can be secured. Which is good because I sold the Mercedes today, and I doubt very much that my RWD BMW wagon can manage to get up there the way it is. Probably the only time the 4-matic in the Mercedes has ever engaged, given it’s a native Floridian.
Can you imagine the typical G-wagen driving bleach blond trophy wife walking around on that? Never mind driving her shiny fancy truck over it?
I… truly don’t understand the appeal of these, and every time I see one crawling around the nicer parts of town, I think of all the objectively better cars someone could have bought instead. The customer is always correct in matters of taste and all that, sure, but sometimes a pig is just a pig.
Thing is, the G-class is still a really capable platform, I suppose, but as they come now, with thin tires and giant rims, crammed with Mercedes’ current opulence and flash, who would take one seriously off-roading? Why would you do that, when a four-door Jeep Wrangler is cheaper and likely better at the hard stuff? If you’re looking for a luxury SUV, there’s plenty of better options just from within Germany that have much better ergonomics and more features. Performance? I know the AMG models have that nice engine, but a Cayenne Turbo or X5M will run circles around this thing…
And yet, Mercedes continues to sell a shitload of these, based solely, I think, on the fact that a handful of tin-pot dictators used to be driven around in these in the ‘90s and that image has informed the buying preferences of a whole segment of the noveau riche from the 2000s onwards.
They sell mostly because they shout at the top of thier lungs that you can afford such a stupid thing, and tacky rich people LOVE doing that. Everybody knows they cost a fortune.
Historically a decent number of them were bought because they met the requirements for the Section 179 tax deduction. But that loophole has been pretty well slammed shut. And most luxury SUV section 179 tax deductions were pretty fraudulent to start with and didn’t really meet the letter of the law.
It does not.
I’m not sure that Mercedes Benz has offered a car in the United States that I actually wanted to drive, let alone own, since the mid-’00s at the latest.
-former owner of a new ’98 Mercedes Benz CLK 320
German Big 3 cars are not something to care about for a while now.
BMWs looks like chinese cars. Ugly chinese cars, that are many chinese cars that are way more pleasant to see than current BMW lineup.
Audis are just expensive VWs more than ever.
Mercedes become bland, uninteresting cars, with family feeling taking to higher levels every generation. This thing? Damn, bring back the 6×6 in the wagon form as a Escalade killer.
This will probably end as just a rich kid toy that will be used as a stage for influencers record videos.
Sadly, you are correct on all counts.
Spot on, sadly.
Unfortunately, douches always need canoes, and this is the ultimate one.
The G Wagon used to be interesting to me. Then they became a boring/safe choice to show you have too much money.
Hey, I care about Mercedes! But not in a weird parasocial way!
…oh, wait, you’re talking about the car brand. Never mind.
It’s not the car’s fault that the typical owners are a certain type.
I actually like the G-Wagen in that it’s not an oversized behemoth on our roads but is quite reasonable sized. Unlike, say, a Hummer, Raptor-this-or-that, or lifted Ram.
Nope. Skipped the article just to make this comment.
Same. I didn’t read a word. I especially don’t care about the G-wagon, which is the douchiest of their offerings, and a convertible even more so.
*hides my pain*
Not knocking you at all Andrew. I did read the article afterwards. But the title was pretty terrible… I think all the comments point to that fact.
An AMG G63 pulled up at the local jiu-jitsu gym and a dude and his kid got out. My deep resentment at dad’s wealth and general feelings of personal failure led me to closely examine his fashion and physique for points of weakness. I found several.
Edit to add: this drop top version looks shark-jumpy, it loses the military pretense of the G Wagen completely.
This reads like an entry from a personal journal and I love it
I don’t care how exotic the cows are that made the leather; it’s still a german jeep. Military vehicles are literally as far as you can get from luxury, who the hell decided it was a status symbol?
The Range Rover has been around since 1970, so whoever it was decided a long time ago.
Ahhnold laughs in Hummer H1.
The G-Wagen Convertible Returns To Make You Care About Mercedes Again
Not working. Still don’t care.
Right? Not interested in a 6 figure Wrangler with a Mercedes badge on it
No 6×6 convertible? FINE. I’ll take my business elsewhere, thankyouverymuch!!!
They would never do it, but Merc would be far more interesting to me if they offered a much more manual controlled soft top or even panel removable version with the S-Class OM656 in front of a manual with a 4 or 5 to one crawl gear. Keep the Driving nannies, air suspension, and most of the Electronic doodads inside as much as possible order option only, not “packages” only set ups.
Because I want my $200,000 status symbol to remind everyone of a Geo Tracker.
There are less expensive ways of being laughed at.
I am sure they get some gruff about Jeep and Bronco top off/soft top options.