There are few better ways to show off just how much money you have than by tooling around in one of Mercedes’ G-Class off-road vehicles. If you’re keen to ratchet your wealth-based preening up a notch, you can now add an electrified version to your multi-car garage/warehouse.
Mercedes-Benz has launched its new G 580 EQ in South Africa. The ‘EQ’ means it drops traditional fuel for EV innards, giving you the bulk of an off-roader with the takeoff speed of a souped-up 250cc motorcycle.
G-Class act
Okay, so the new G-Class — sometimes affectionately known as the Geländewagen by those who make/can afford it — might not be quite that terrifying but with a R3.82 million starting price, something will be scared. Whoever handles your finances, for instance. But there’s good reason to spend that much money — or more, if you’re splashing out R4,65 million for the new Editon One G 580 — on a shiny new EV.
The reason is, obviously, luxury. There are some external changes to set the G-Class EV apart from its older sibling but the fittings and trimmings are in keeping with a wholly electric car. Merc offers an LED running light as an optional extra, getting in and stepping out show custom animations, and the logo can be projected on the floor. Presumably, this stops you from stepping into anything people without money might have breathed on.
Performance is what you’re expecting from any Merc and while the German auto maker has limited the G 580 to 180km/h, you’ll get up there in seconds. The four electric motors, one for each wheel, generate a combined total of 432kW, 1,164Nm of torque, and supply a nought to 100km/h time of 4.7 seconds. That’s speedy for any vehicle. For a G-Class, it’s enough to melt your brain a little.
116kWh of battery supplies the new G-Class with a range of up to 473km on a charge while charge speeds of up to 200kW mean it’ll juice up from 10% to 80% in just over half an hour. There are enough engineering innovations to make your head spin but the major ones are G-Turn (it’ll rotate like a tank), G-Steering (ditto), and something called G-Roar, which makes your formerly-silent automotive investment noisy enough to attract attention.
The interior is similarly splurged upon, with MBUX Augmented Reality for Navigation being a prime feature. For example, it’ll watch traffic lights for you. No, really. 12.3in touchscreen displays, one each for the driver and passenger, full Android Auto and Apple Carplay integration, and AI-like voice assistant functions combine make the inside as smart as the outside.
As for the new Edition One G-Class? That’s just the same vehicle with all the extras (mostly). New colour options, custom mirror light projection, fancier brake calipers, plus all the features for the AMG and Night Package lineups, are included as standard. That’s worth an extra R800,000 or so, right?
