BMW is reportedly creating an adventure-focused rival to the long-lasting Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen as its new flagship off-roader, with manufacturing deliberate for 2029.
In line with Automotive Information, the brand new mannequin – codenamed G74 – shall be primarily based on the BMW X5 SUV and manufactured on the similar US manufacturing unit in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
When approached by CarExpert, BMW wouldn’t affirm the automobile, which Automotive Information stories gained’t function a quantity vendor, however as a substitute present a halo mannequin for the model like the present, performance-focused XM SUV.
Heading off-road additionally brings BMW right into a probably profitable sector, given the excessive transaction costs for the G-Wagen.
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Above: BMW XM
The brand new BMW would additionally face the present L663 Land Rover Defender – which now makes use of car-like unibody development, just like the X5 – and the BMW-powered, body-on-frame Ineos Grenadier off-roader, in addition to the body-on-frame G-Wagen.
The G74 will reportedly be a substitute for the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) XM whose manufacturing is predicted to finish in November 2028.
What is going to energy the brand new flagship continues to be unknown, with BMW having better success than Mercedes-Benz in transitioning to electrical energy. The model set a new gross sales file in Australia in 2024, and one-third of the autos it bought had been EVs.
BMW could also be cautious, nonetheless, of an nameless Mercedes-Benz govt who described the battery-electric G-Wagen – which went on sale in Australia in June 2025 – as a failure after gradual gross sales.
Above: Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Expertise
“The automobile is sitting like lead at sellers; it’s an entire flop,” the unnamed govt instructed German enterprise newspaper Handelsblatt.
BMW may use hybrid tech, such because the plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain discovered within the XM. The corporate has dedicated to ongoing inside combustion engines for different high-end fashions together with the newest PHEV V8 G90/G99 BMW M5 sedan and wagon.
This might present a rival to the V8-powered Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen. BMW has credibility within the high-performance SUV stakes, however much less pedigree within the off-road area the place Mercedes-Benz has provided a G-Wagen since 1979.
Above: BMW X7
Utilizing the subsequent X5 underpinnings will give the G74 related dimensions to the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, which in AMG G63 guise measures 4873mm lengthy, 1984mm extensive and 1979mm tall with 282mm of floor clearance.
The sizing additionally offers better alternative for off-road prowess in comparison with the bigger BMW X7.
BMW has over time provided X5s with an xOffroad bundle with air suspension and a locking differential, but it surely has by no means provided an SUV fairly as rugged because the G-Wagen.
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