Concepts · 2021
Still a G. Just quieter.
Munich, 2021: Mercedes kept the ladder frame, the live rear axle and the box — then put a motor at each corner and a glowing black panel where the grille used to be.
Arnold Schwarzenegger had extracted a promise years earlier: the G-Class would not be left behind when Mercedes went electric. At IAA Mobility 2021 the company made good on it with Concept EQG — near enough to production that you could already argue about the wheel design.
Two-tone silver and black, blue-lit side guards, a roof rack with a light bar, 22-inch aero wheels. The spare-tire circle on the tailgate became a locking box for charge cables — homage with a plug.
Chapter I
Four motors, one mountain.
This was not a skateboard crossover wearing G badges. The Concept EQG kept the ladder frame, independent front suspension and rigid rear axle. Battery packs sat in the frame for a low center of gravity. Off-road geometry stayed the point.
Four individually controllable motors near the wheels promised “enormous pulling power and controllability.” A shiftable two-speed gearbox supplied a crawler ratio — climbing capacity up to 100 percent on the right surface, Mercedes said, matching the combustion brothers.
Exact horsepower and pack size stayed under wraps at the debut; later production talk circled batteries north of 100 kWh. The Schöckl mountain test in Graz remained the graduation exam every G must pass.
Chapter II
The spare tire becomes a suitcase.
Designers kept external door hinges, round lamps and the upright windshield — then lit what used to be chrome. Protective side strips glowed blue. The rear “spare” was a squared circle with a light ring, sized for cables instead of rubber. It was the most persuasive argument that an electric G could still look like itself.
Epilogue
From EQG to G 580.
Production arrived without the EQG nameplate — as the G 580 with EQ Technology — but the Concept’s argument held: keep the frame, keep the climb, change the fuel. The Munich show car was less a fantasy than a dress rehearsal for the loudest quiet G Mercedes had ever built.