---
title: "The New Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen Will Still Be Boxy"
description: "Mercedes-Benz's iconic off-roader is up for some big changes, but its general blockiness isn't one of them."
date: "2017-04-18"
modified: "2017-04-18"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/9436/the-new-mercedes-benz-g-wagen-will-still-be-boxy"
categories:
  - "Mercedes-Benz News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "g-class"
  - "G-Wagen"
  - "gelandewagen"
  - "luxury"
  - "Mercedes-Benz"
  - "Off-Road"
  - "SUV"
  - "suv/crossover"
---

# The New Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen Will Still Be Boxy

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/04/mercedes-benz-amg-g-class-wagen-future-boxy.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

*Geländewagen* maniacs, it's finally okay to release that deep breath you've been holding in ever since you heard Daimler was redesigning your hero. When the new version of the [Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/5393/this-box-turns-the-mercedes-benz-g-wagen-into-a-camper-in-two-minutes>) arrives, it will still look just as squared-off as ever, according to the company's head designer.

"You have to keep [\[the G-Wagen](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/8419/mercedes-g550-earns-our-21-gun-salute>)\] boxy," [Gorden Wagener, Daimler AG's chief design officer, told *Automotive News* at the New York Auto Show last week](<https://www.autonews.com/article/20170417/OEM03/304179916/mercedes-redesigned-g-class-stays-boxy>). "You have to treat it very responsible, otherwise it wouldn't be a G. So it still has to be edgy."

But the redesigned G-Class will be plenty different, he said. Every visible part of the SUV (save for a small piece of plastic trim on the C-pillar) will be new, he told *AW*.

Wagener said Mercedes-Benz's designers took advantage of their chance to update the iconic, utilitarian sport-ute and give it a little additional maturity by tweaking the proportions and smoothing over the rough edges. "You have to clean it up," he said.

The designer didn't specify when the next-generation G-Wagen will make its debut, other than to remark to AW that the new *Geländewagen* would arrive in the "not too distant future."

And while Mercedes-Benz has been mum on what else the world can expect from the next version of its O.G. off-roader, we at *The Drive* fully expect that a) it'll be highly competent on any terrain, and b) it'll offer a series of [ridiculously powerful AMG-sourced V8](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/5888/theres-a-700-hp-mercedes-g63-amg-6x6-for-sale-in-america>) and [V12 engines](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/1533/mercedes-benz-g65-amg-the-stats-they-wont-tell-you>) that seem [completely counterintutive to its off-road, mil-spec roots](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/7592/mercedes-maybach-g650-landaulet-is-a-630-hp-ultra-luxurious-off-roader>). Because anything else just wouldn't be a G-Wagen.

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)