If a model sympts the ultimate victory of the SUV, Mr. Edwards said, it is the Mercedes G-Class or Geländewagen. Built in Austria, it was conceived in 1979 as a unpretentious military or farm car.
Mercedes initially did not offer the G-Class in America and a gray market of import fired the demand. The federal government demolished imports in 1987, making the Mercedes three tons of forbidden fruit. The automaker finally brought the Stateside model in 2003, where it evolved to a lush luxury SUV that can still perform off-road.
Jessica Hart, founder of the Luma Beauty brand, and a former model, love the G-car she bought when she moved to Los Angeles, after 17 car-free years in New York. She has the AMG G 63, a valued version of Mercedes' Performance Division.
“The Boxy design is male, but not overly aggressive,” said Mrs. Hart, who grew up around farms in Australia with the iconic “utes” of the nation strange mash-ups of Sportsedans and pick-ups.
“I am a bit of a Rev Head, so the engine is worth it for me,” said Mrs. Hart.
The G-Class has succeeded in climbing over the S-Class, the limo-like sedan that Mercedes's benchmark brand had been, both on sale and in the image. Mercedes sold nearly 11,000 G classes last year, fourth his turnover of ten years ago four-time. The sale of S-Class continued to welcome last year by 25 percent of the year before, to 8,800 cars. The explosive sales profits of the G-class seem more striking in the light of the average price, $ 192,000, according to surveys carried out by Strategic Vision, compared to $ 131,000 for a typical S-class.
