Mercedes-Benz is developing a more budget-friendly sibling to all-electric SUV, The EV will be a smaller, cheaper version of its iconic G-Wagon and it was confirmed this weekend at IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich. CEO Ola Kallenius said the “baby” G-Class EV will be significantly more compact than its cousin and that it’ll be “fun to drive.”
This model is a spinoff from the G-Class EQG concept first unveiled at IAA Mobility 2021. The German newspaper Automobilwoche has been planning a smaller all-electric G-Wagon for several years, and suggests that the variant could go by the name “g-Class” with a purposeful lowercase “g.” Kallenius told CNBC that he views the vehicle as the “daughter or son of the big-G.”
Details are scarce, but it’ll be based on a purely electric powertrain and should feature all-wheel drive, especially with Kallenius’s assurance that it’ll be fun to drive. As for the promise of a cheaper G-Class vehicle, a new Mercedes G-Class SUV starts at $140,000, so it won’t be difficult to get in at a lower price point than that. However, if the company wants mass market adoption, a slight price cut to the $100k to $120k range likely won’t do the trick. Actual pricing remains a mystery.
We still have a long while to wait before getting behind the wheel of this diminutive wonder. The vehicle’s powertrain is likely based on the forthcoming MB.EA platform, Mercedes is developing. This platform isn’t likely to show up in vehicles until 2025, which places the release of the smaller, cheaper G-Class EV in 2026 at the earliest.
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