Yep, it sounds bonkers but here it is, the one-off race car inspired Project Geländewagen by Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh.
No-one has ever thought of reimagining the G-Class as a race car. Until now. Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with the Chief Creative Director and Founder of Off-White and Men’s Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton Virgil Abloh. And in typical arty-farty language the aim of the project was to “explore ways of disrupting future perceptions of luxury”. Okay.
But there’s more to it than that as a replica of this thing will be built and auctioned off later this month to support the Arts.
The G-Class has been a 4×4 and Landaulet but never a race car, Mercedes-Benz said. And the reasons for that, we’d have thought would be obvious…it’s shaped like a brick. Anyway, Merc said the inspiration to turn the thing into a race car came from its own design boss and Albloh owning G-Class vehicles. Still confused? Yep, us too.
Moving on. It still looks like a G-Class just one that’s been dumped onto its guts with Merc saying it wanted to celebrate the handcrafted imperfections that make the G-Class unique.
“The paintwork was partially sanded by hand to create a sense of timeless simplicity. Welds are celebrated as key design motifs, as craftsmanship takes center stage.” Despite that, friperies like indicators and the bumper bar have been removed to make the thing look cleaner. The interior has been stripped out with just the essentials left behind to give the interior, Merc said, the feeling of a classic car. Hmmm… I can’t help but think it looks a little cartoonish. Not sure if it looks good or weird, what do you think?
While you’re here subscribe to the MotoFomo Newsletter
Sign Up for the latest news, reviews, advice, buying guides and more delivered to your inbox every week