Mercedes-Benz G-Class

Daimler-Benz and Steyr-Daimler-Puch agreed in 1972 to build a civilian and military four-wheel drive at Graz; the W460 of February 1979 had a ladder frame, coil-sprung solid axles, part-time four-wheel drive and locking differentials, on 2,400 and 2,850 mm wheelbases with the 230 G, 280 GE, 240 GD and 300 GD, and was sold as the Puch G in Austria and Switzerland and built under licence by Peugeot as the P4. It won the 1983 Paris–Dakar and carried the Pope in 1980.

The W463 of 1990 turned the G into a luxury car with permanent four-wheel drive, three electric locks, wood and leather and, from 1998, V8s — the G 500, G 55 and G 63 AMG, the V12 G 65, the 6x6 of 2013 and 4x4² of 2015 — while the W461 continued the working and military G to 2022. The 2018 redesign kept the shape on a new, wider frame with independent front suspension, and the 2024 facelift added the four-motor electric G 580. The 400,000th G was built in December 2020 and the 500,000th, in the original agave green, in April 2023.