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How Demand from China and Russia Saved the G-Wagon

G-Class or G-Wagen is short for Geladewagen, which stands for cross-country vehicle in German. It’s currently being produced in Graz, Austria, but has been on the market as a civilian vehicle since 1979.
G65 AMG 1 photo
Photo: Mercedes Benz
Can you imagine what it would be like if the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am or the BMW M1 were still in production in basically their original form, over 30 years later? Naturally, you’d think that the G-Class is outdated and needs to be put to pasture, and so did Mercedes for a while.

But the SUV has proved to be very resilient. In fact, over the past three years, demand in Russia and China has spurred an increase in production of 50 percent, according to Axel Harrer, Mercedes’ SUV production head.

He told Autonews Europe that in 2011, the company delivered 6,600 G-Class units. The number is expected to grow when the 2013 facelift brings an updated interior and two new AMG versions.

Looks like the slab-fronted SUV is here to stay!
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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