Mercedes-Benz G-Class: The Immortal Icon Smashes Records Amidst a Sales Slump
Mercedes-Benz has summarized its 2025 sales results, and although the overall corporate picture showed a slight cooling, one model shone brighter than ever before. The German automotive giant’s passenger car division delivered a total of nearly 1.8 million vehicles, representing a nine percent decrease compared to the year before last, but the legendary G-Class defied all market logic. Demand for the boxy off-road icon jumped by a staggering 23 percent, making the past year the most successful in the model's long history.
A total of nearly 50,000 new G-Class vehicles found owners, with all powertrain options contributing to the record. Interestingly, a significant role in this success story was played by the fully electric version, the G580, which has managed to attract an entirely new customer base to the brand. This is a somewhat ironic result considering that overall sales of Mercedes-Benz’s purely battery-powered models fell by nine percent, mirroring the total volume decline. It appears that customers are ready to embrace the electric era only when it is packaged in a sufficiently prestigious and recognizable form.
The final quarter of the year nevertheless injected some optimism into the German manufacturer, as the success of the new generation CLA began to drive interest in electric cars back upward across European markets. This has given Mercedes-Benz the confidence to enter 2026 with ambitious plans. The manufacturer has promised to roll out a whole series of new electric vehicles, led by the electric C-Class and GLA models, and will finally unveil the first electric model developed from scratch by the AMG division. Naturally, symbols of luxury will not be forgotten either, as both the S-Class and the giant SUVs, the GLE and GLS, are set to undergo refreshes.
