- This comes shortly after Mercedes unveiled the quad-motor, electric G580 EQ.
- Mercedes now sells six-cylinder, eight-cylinder, and electric versions of the G-Wagen.
- If customers still want V8s, Mercedes will continue to build them.
Few vehicles have withstood the test of time quite like the G-Class. In fact, Mercedes-Benz revealed that an impressive 80% of all G-Classes ever produced are still actively on the road today. That’s an impressive feat considering that the rugged off-roader has been in production for nearly have a century, since 1979.
The iconic G-Wagen recently ventured into a new era with the launch of the all-electric G580 EQ. However, it will likely be many decades before electric Gs become the sole version still running.
Read: 579 HP Quad-Motor Mercedes G580 EQ Can Outcrawl And Outwade The ICE G
“80 percent of the G-Classes that were ever produced are still in the market,” AMG chief executive and G-Class and Maybach boss Michael Schiebe told reporters at the launch of the electric G. “The cars have a very long lifetime.”
“So here you can calculate [that while] maybe a G-Class needs a little bit more material than [your average] compact car, the durability, if you see the lifetime of a G-Wagen from 1979, I think you [will have had to have] driven many, many compact cars, in some cases, to keep up the lifetime of a G-Wagen.”
On paper, the new G580 EQ has plenty going for it. It utilizes four electric motors producing 579 hp and 859 lb-ft of torque, allowing it to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.7 seconds. Like any other G-Class, it has also been designed with off-roading in mind and is said to be even more capable in this realm than combustion versions. For as capable as it is, Schiebe acknowledged that if customers keep demanding V8s, it will continue to supply them, Motor1 reports.
“We try to be a customer-centric company,” he said. “We want to deliver what customers want. And if they demand V8 engines, then it is our job to supply very efficient and very powerful V8 engines. We have customers that really love the V8, Schiebe said. “And they will love the V8 in the G-Class forever.”
For those buyers who don’t want a V8, Mercedes-Benz also sells the G-Class with a six-cylinder. The G580 EQ will then cater to those who don’t want a combustion engine. According to Schiebe, this is a “de-risking strategy” for its business.
