Mercedes mega-SUV coming in January
Autoweek
reports
today that the Mercedes GL-class, debuting at the Detroit Auto Show in January, will be the largest of three vehicles based on Mercedes' premium sport wagon platform. Joining the smaller M-class and the crossover R-class (due out in October), the bigger GL is aimed at the market segment currently owned by full-sized American luxury SUVs like the Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade.
All three vehicles will be built at Mercedes' factory in Vance, Alabama. The fate of the existing 25 year-old G-class
is unclear.
[spyshot via
eMercedesBenz]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Finished.Law.School 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Will the layoff of 8,000 Mercedes jobs in Germany (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050927/bs_nm/autos_daimlerchryslerl_jobs_dc) have a negative effect on the developemnt of this thing? I am concerned because I am all for bigger SUVs that can crush Geo Metros and similar little cars. I really am, I am not being sarcastic.
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interestinglyenough 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Wait. I thought all the auto companies are scrambling to get fuel efficient cars to the market? First GM, then Mercedes, and soon Toyota? Their SUVs are getting bigger and bigger. Is the hybrid-craze just media hype? You'll find out at 11.
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Hank 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Aw, it's a Mercedes-Benz. If you can't afford $4 gas and are having to watch your mpg that closely, you can't afford the GL to begin with.
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will 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I saw this car driving around (with another EXTREMELY camo'd out car (stuff raised off the body))a few months ago. I followed it before i lost it on the freeway. Took pics with my camera phone but then my services stopped for uploading pictures so they were stuck on my phone. Anyways, Wasn't my cup of tea. If it is an actual replacement to the G class then i am dissapointed because then they ruined what the G class was. if theyre doing it in addition to the G class then whatever, just another luxo suv
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iQuack 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Oh, please spare us another brain-dead SUV with a spare tire hanging off the back.
The spare becomes the rear bumper and raises the cost of hitting anything, and the spare crushes the low hoods of cars parked behind.
This thoughtless, asswipe overhanging spare design should be outlawed! Nothing should be permitted to overhang the rear bumper on any car.
These things are STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!
iQuack');">Reply
Number Six 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Timing is everything, Mercedes-Benz! Bring out a gas-hog just as US gas prices are over $2.80 a gallon. Smart? Not Smart. No Smart coming to the US for city use? That'd be Smart.
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WillDaThrill 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
And white coller, yuppie Americans will be the first to buy them in mass quantities. They never learn.
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Luke 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Has anyone else noticed how DCs and M-Bs products are getting closer together? This seems to be the M-B counterpart of the Jeep Commando, like the Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum was the counterpart to the E class, The crossfire was the counterpart to the SLK, the Pacifica to the R class etc.
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