Back in September, Mercedes-Benz announced the return of the G-Class Cabriolet with a teaser showing its silhouette and body design. We then got our first look at it with light camouflage in December. Since then, the brand has been radio silent until it shared a few new photos. At first glance, they don’t seem to show much we haven’t seen before. However, the exhaust tips (and the license plate) confirm that there will be an AMG variant.
When You Want The Wind In Your Hair To Go Really Fast, You Go AMG
Until now, we’ve only seen the G-Class Cabriolet in standard Mercedes-Benz form, which is distinguished by a lack of prominent exhaust tips, and fairly plain bumpers. It also had sensibly sized wheels with tires that had genuine sidewall. Aside from the folding rear top section, it was about as unassuming as a G-Class could be.
This AMG version does away with those aspects. It has the AMG grille with vertical slats and a front bumper with much bigger intakes. The rear bumper loses some of the vertical sections that would normally add a bit of off-road toughness to the design. The signature side-exit exhaust tips are bright and shiny, matching the enormous split-spoke alloy wheels. Looking closely, we can see that the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires show the wheels are 22 inches in diameter. Drilled brake rotors are also visible behind them.
Even though Mercedes didn’t give any details about the specifications on this model, we can make a pretty safe guess that it’ll be equipped with the same powertrain as the regular G 63. Under the hood should be a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 making 577 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque sending power to all four wheels. That’s good for a 4.2-second 0-60 mph time on the regular model, but the Cabriolet will likely weigh a bit more and be a touch slower to accelerate. It should also have the full complement of locking differentials like any G-Class, but we doubt many, if any, customers will use them.
Mercedes-Benz G-Class Convertible from the rear three-quarter angleMercedes-Benz / Facebook
We Should See It Fully Revealed Soon
Mercedes hasn’t said much at all about this new Cabriolet, despite sharing photos of the vehicle in extremely thin vinyl camouflage. The camouflage really doesn’t hide much of anything. We assume that these revealing previews mean that it will be officially unveiled sometime this year. Mercedes has also confirmed that the Cabriolet will be offered in the US, making it the first drop-top G-Class in the country since the ultra-limited production G 650 Landaulet in 2018. This seems like it will be a much more widely available model, and should have a more reasonable price, though will certainly still be in the six-figure territory, and above the normal hardtop versions.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Mercedes adding another G-Class variation shows that the big boxy SUV remains as popular as ever, if not more so. It also shows that big, genuine, off-road-ready, heritage-filled SUVs have appeal not just in the mainstream car segments, but in luxury, too. It should be a good sign for Infiniti and its future body-on-frame SUVs, as well as manufacturers such as BMW and Audi looking to offer even bigger luxury SUV models.
Source: Mercedes-Benz / Instagram / Facebook
