Chinese EV brand wants to take on the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen
Another new rival to the Mercedes-Benz G-Class 4x4 is reportedly on the way, with Zeekr eyeing up a more road-friendly competitor.
The Mercedes-Benz G-Class – also known as the G-Wagen – is one of the longest-running vehicles on sale globally, with its principles of a ladder-frame chassis providing supreme off-road ability being at its core for more than 40 years.
Though the G-Wagen can now be purchased in luxurious and rapid AMG guise as well as an electric vehicle (G580 with EQ Technology), it has remained largely true to its roots, and has kept being a cash cow for Mercedes-Benz.
Its success has led to rival brands such as Audi and Genesis eyeing up rugged off-road competitors to take away the G-Wagen’s market share, with its only other boxy competitor being the Land Rover Defender, which recently switched from a ladder-frame construction to a unibody platform.
Now, according to Future Car Daily, via CarNewsChina, the Geely-owned Zeekr brand is reportedly looking to launch its own boxy off-road ready SUV, potentially coming to the market between 2028 and 2029.
Allegedly known internally as a Mercedes G-Class benchmark project, the unnamed Zeekr off-roader will be a unibody SUV like the Defender, rather than a ladder-frame as found in the G-Wagen, Toyota LandCruiser, Nissan Patrol, and Ford Everest.
It’s not yet known whether it’ll be fully electric or plug-in hybrid, as Zeekr offers both powertrains as a part of its core lineup.
Though most of the G-Wagen’s sales come from its turbo-diesel utilitarian and performance V8 petrol AMG variants, the electric G580 is one of its most potent forms, producing 432kW and 1164Nm.
Stephen Ottley
Despite this, last year one Mercedes insider told German business publication Handelsblatt that the G580 was a commercial failure.
“The car is sitting like lead at dealers; it’s a complete flop,” one Mercedes-Benz executive reportedly told the publication.
“People want a real G-Class - with six or eight cylinders,” another added. “It’s a niche model; production numbers are very low,” a third said.
Jordan Mulach
At the time, Mercedes-Benz had delivered 1450 examples of the electric G-Wagen to customers globally between January and April 2025. By contrast, it delivered almost 9700 petrol and diesel versions, with the EV accounting for about 15 per cent of sales.
In Australia, Mercedes delivered 282 examples of the G-Wagen in total between January and June 2026, with the EV accounting for 11.3 per cent of that figure.
While the business case outside of China may be tenuous, in its home market Zeeker would be going up against other big, luxury off-road SUVs, such as the BYD Yangwang U8 and Fangchengbao Bao 8.
Jordan Mulach
