The Mercedes-Benz G-Class has been one of the world’s most recognizable cars for more than 40 years – a rugged, all-conquering military machine that served the German military and, more recently, was re-imagined by the automotive styling gods into one of the world’s most luxurious SUVs imaginable.
Perhaps the world had grown tired of androids images. Embodied in the uncompromising boxiness, instantly recognizable utilitarian styling features, and, today, phenomenal off-road capabilities is a cult of all-terrain connoisseurship among off-road drivers and high-luxe car buyers that has been hard fought for and cherished for years.
The G-Wagen survived as a burly symbol of Mercedes-Benz’s knack for creating a good blingy tool as much as a machine devoted to comfort. So whether roaring up a mountain pass or squeezed between taxis in a crowded city center, the G-Wagen has been the crisis-ready Hammer of German carmakers.
Now, as automakers respond to a growing emphasis on the environment, even an icon such as the G-Wagen must change. The 2025 Mercedes-Benz G550, the latest and most significant evolution of the G-Wagen, announces a new era of performance, efficiency, and sustainability.
Goodbye V8, Hello Inline-Six
For half a century, whatever Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 you’ve come across in America, there’s been a G-Wagen V8 under its bonnet. It sounded ungodly, with that signature rough growl unmistakably V8, and there was this expectation that it would achieve ungodly performance. Whether you had the G500 or G550, or, going from there, the AMG variants – the G55 AMG, and the sublime twin-turbo AMG G63 – the V8 is key. It’s about 90 percent of the car’s raison d’être. The growl and the power are the appeal, this idea that it has all this presence such that you expect something from it.
The V8 engine, on whose sound and vibration the G-Wagen’s reputation came to revolve, was much more than just a source of mechanical power: As athletes who drove Mercedes-Benz GLA SUVs put it, ‘It’s got that beast car feel to it.’ The sensation, in other words, of commanding a fearsome, warlike force of nature was at the heart of the car’s appeal.
But the 2025 G550 – the first G-Wagen that won’t come with a V8 – represents another turning point for the famous boxy jeep. Mercedes-Benz has ripped out the venerable 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and replaced it with a 3.0-liter inline-six combined with a mild-hybrid system.
Key Takeaways:
- With the 2025 G550, the G-Wagen’s V8 era is about to come to a resounding close.
- The new 3.0-liter inline-six (mild-hybrid instead of V8) is just one of many in this desirable technology shift towards smaller turbo engines with a smaller carbon footprint.
The new model will still have a bristling sense of masculine purpose yet, Marx would be disappointed, Mercedes-Benz pledges to retain the G-Wagen’s ‘off-roader identity of purpose’ through engineering.
Hybrid Power, Uncompromised Performance
To the purist, it’s a shame to see the old V8 displaced by an inline-six, but Mercedes-Benz feels it’s done more than just aid the mountains’ ascent by burying a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo engine in the nose of the latest G, and strapping on all those ugly LED lights to the front bumper, radiator, and light bars. Instead, this new G550 is from the factory blessed with a 48-volt integrated starter-generator (ISG). This approach to hybridizing engines is about more than mere efficiency.
That mild-hybrid system delivers a whopping 443 horses and 413 pound-feet of torque, but the G550 maintains the same raptor-accurate throttle response and unbridled surge of power that the most deluded Mercedes-Benz GLA SUV owner has come to expect. Even when cruising up a mildly sandy grade that would make most others back down, the G550 wasn’t even forced to render an impolite gesture to the SUVs trampling behind it.
The system adds an extra 20 horsepower, for a total of 463, and 148 pound-feet of torque to reserve as engine speeds diminish. The system also manages the G550’s eSail mode, which causes the internal combustion engine to shut down entirely while the SUV is at idle and coasting at speeds as fast as 12 miles per hour.
Essentially, the hybrid system’s job is to boost fuel economy and cut emissions – an important evolution as the automotive industry approaches a Green horizon. The ISG assists the engine under acceleration, as well as smoothing out regenerative braking, quelling the waste otherwise spewed out.
Both the powertrain shift and the hybrid aspect of the powertrain indicate where Mercedes-Benz is trying to position the G-Class for a more electrified future. Already, the company has said that it has a plan to create fully electric versions of the G-Class.
Key Takeaways:
- The 2025 G550’s 3.0-liter inline-six makes for 443 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque, just as punchy as it ever was with a V8.
Retaining Its Iconic Presence
Under the hood? Yes. But unless Mercedes-Benz has amended the laws of physics, the pages of science fiction, and the practical side of design, that’s the only place you’ll find anything new on the next G550 that goes on sale in 2025. Contrary to popular belief, the 2025 G-Wagen is the conservatively styled successor of the 2024 G-Wagen.
The cabin remains as lush as you’d expect from a G-Wagen – and that’s a good thing because changes to the interior between now and the 2025 model are limited to tweaks to the switchgear and the introduction of Mercedes-Benz‘s latest MBUX infotainment system, designed to bring a more connected and intelligent driving experience with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Conquering the Toughest Terrain
A trait deeply associated with the Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 is its unmatched prowess on rough terrain. As part of the development process, journalists recently took the 2025 G550 for a spin on rocky, forest tracks, snow-laden passes, and swampy wetlands at the Mercedes-Benz test track in southern France, where they found it remarkably capable, aided by its sophisticated four-wheel-drive system, three-way locking diffs, and massive ground clearance.
The hybrid powertrain and expanded off-road repertoire mean the Mercedes-Benz GLA SUV remains every bit the off-road performer it has always been.
Key Takeaways:
- Reporters who took the G550 out into the field said the vehicle easily overcame ‘the worst of the worst.’
By delivering the same go-anywhere performance as before, Mercedes-Benz reassured prospective buyers that the G-Wagen was still the off-road opulent SUV they sought.
Adapting to the Future While Honoring the Past
But so, too, must the G-Wagen, which now runs on ‘gas’ — specifically, a new V8 biturbo engine, which despite its name is not a diesel — and whose newest standard offering, the 2025 G550, is a bold leap into electrification and sustainability that keeps the big wagon moving into the future by recharging what made the G-Wagen the G-Wagen to begin with.
Indeed, a hybrid powertrain is only the beginning for the most impervious of modern SUVs. It was Mercedes-Benz itself that said the company’s iconic four-wheeled lawn ornament ‘has never needed a larger engine than the new one that will be fitted to the next generations, also paving the way for the introduction of fully electric variants.’
The 2025 G550 is thus clearly a transitional step: modern enough that when the old G-Class finally goes out of production, we’ll expect a luxurious six-figure electric behemoth to replace it. But even as the vehicle’s future slips into modern technology, the G-Wagen will still be irrevocably linked with its past. Very much still an icon, the military Jeep-type truck extra won’t be giving up on its design language, its luxurious ‘airport lounge’ interior or its hardcore four-wheel-drive ruggedness. If the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen is a cinematic archetype, you can be sure fanboys will still flock to it.
Key Takeaways:
- But the fact is that the 2025 G550 is the first serious step toward the G-Class of the future that will embrace hybrid technology, couched in the legendary proportions of the SUV’s classic character. It is a form that has – astonishingly – remained perfect as reinvention.
- – Mercedes-Benz is electrifying the G-Wagen for the future, with all-electric variants likely to join existing internal-combustion ones in coming years.
- For better and worse, the G550 represents the relationship between modern performance and old-school attributes that have made the G-Wagen both a darling of luxury SUV buyers and an off-road bruiser.
As evidenced by this 2025 Mercedes-Benz G550, however, the G-Wagen’s time is over. The G-Wagen’s ethos has always been owned by someone else. It’s a post-apocalyptic roach motel, the last vehicle alive when the chips are down It has never been a contrivance to make SUV buyers feel like snobs, nor has the model ever prioritised transporting people over themselves, or believed that the human body is a container to be protected or comforted. Indeed, it is colder still. There is no non-mercenary sector of metaphor in the G-Wagen’s ethos. It has never been a post-apocalyptic roach motel, the last vehicle alive when the chips are down. It has never been a symbol of virility, because only the most pitifully sexless people feel the need to stick it somewhere just to prove they have it.
The G-Wagen continues to stand tall, adapting to changing times without compromising its iconic heritage.