Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled in January at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the W464 is now rolling off the assembly line at Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. The three-pointed star has been building the G-Class here since the very beginning, back in 1979 when the 460 series of the Gelandewagen went on sale.
“With the model change the new G-Class experienced the biggest transformation in its 39 years-old history,” declared Gunnar Guthenke, head of the Off-Road Product Group at Mercedes-Benz. “The superior development goal for the new G-Class was to improve the off-road capabilities even more,” concluded the official.
Raising the bar higher than the W463 did from 1990 to 2018, the W464 is available with two engine options for the time being, namely the G500 and G63. The G65 went the way of the dodo because the twin-turbocharged V12 couldn’t keep up with the latest of emissions standards, which means that twin-turbo V8s is all we get.
The 4.0-liter engine with hot-vee layout in the 500 is rated at 422 PS (416 horsepower) and 610 Nm (450 pound-feet) of torque, with the M176 connected to the 9G-Tronic automatic transmission with nine forward ratios from the get-go. The 63, on the other hand, sees the M176 get the AMG treatment for an output of 585 PS (577 horsepower) and 850 Nm (627 pound-feet) of torque. Not bad at all, right?
When all is said and done, the party piece of the G-Class is how versatile the W464 is off the beaten path. But for a change, Mercedes-Benz put the effort into making the G easier to live with on a daily basis thanks to upgrades such as independent suspension at the front and a cockpit inspired from the W222 S-Class.
To date, the three-pointed star and Magna Steyr have produced more than 300,000 examples of the G-Class. Sales have been on the rise since 2009, and starting in 2012, the G has established a sales record each year. 2017 is the highlight from a commercial standpoint, with the G-Class achieving over 22,000 units sold in a year.
Raising the bar higher than the W463 did from 1990 to 2018, the W464 is available with two engine options for the time being, namely the G500 and G63. The G65 went the way of the dodo because the twin-turbocharged V12 couldn’t keep up with the latest of emissions standards, which means that twin-turbo V8s is all we get.
The 4.0-liter engine with hot-vee layout in the 500 is rated at 422 PS (416 horsepower) and 610 Nm (450 pound-feet) of torque, with the M176 connected to the 9G-Tronic automatic transmission with nine forward ratios from the get-go. The 63, on the other hand, sees the M176 get the AMG treatment for an output of 585 PS (577 horsepower) and 850 Nm (627 pound-feet) of torque. Not bad at all, right?
When all is said and done, the party piece of the G-Class is how versatile the W464 is off the beaten path. But for a change, Mercedes-Benz put the effort into making the G easier to live with on a daily basis thanks to upgrades such as independent suspension at the front and a cockpit inspired from the W222 S-Class.
To date, the three-pointed star and Magna Steyr have produced more than 300,000 examples of the G-Class. Sales have been on the rise since 2009, and starting in 2012, the G has established a sales record each year. 2017 is the highlight from a commercial standpoint, with the G-Class achieving over 22,000 units sold in a year.
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