Mercedes-Benz prepping mini G-Class
German luxury brand is readying a lookalike baby brother for the new G-Class, called GLBMercedes-Benz will break with its SUV traditions in 2019 by delivering a hard-core junior off-roader to sit beneath this year's all-new G-Class, and it will be available with up to seven seats.
The GLB will be the flagship for the next generation of Benz’s new small car family, which will start next month with the all-new A-Class, and will sit between the small GLA and mid-size GLC SUVs in both price and size.
The 4600mm GLB will be sold with at least three turbocharged four-cylinder powertrains – wearing 200, 220 and 250 badges -- that it will share with the upcoming A-Class.
Unlike the rest of the compact range of Benzes, the GLB will derive its styling cues largely from the new G-Class, which will debut at this week’s Detroit motor show, and also draws inspiration from the Ener-G-Force concept from the 2012 Los Angeles show (pictured).
Although it will be less road-focused than any other compact Mercedes SUV, the GLB will still share the next A-Class’s MFA2 architecture to make it scalable.
It’s also likely to swallow the mild-hybrid powertrain from the upcoming A 300 hatch, and be available in high-performance GLB 45 AMG guise.
About 180mm longer than the current GLA, the GLB has been developed under the X247 codename and will give Mercedes a chance at an even more profitable model mix via a range of off road-style body kits, wheel and tyre and ride height packages.
There is also a long-wheelbase version under development, which will add about 200mm to the GLB’s overall length and a third row of seats to deliver seven-seat capacity.
The X247 project essentially follows the same strategy Volkswagen used for the Tiguan by using a standard model for Europe and a long-wheelbase model, like the Tiguan Allspace, to target both China and the USA.
It’s one of the three new badges for Mercedes-Benz’s four existing compact cars (A-, B-, CLA- and GLA-Class), with the others being a relatively conservative A-Class sedan based on last year’s Shanghai motor show concept car and a two-door sports coupe to give the C-Class Coupe a baby brother.
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