Mercedes-Benz has drawn a line around its smaller G-Class, and it is a wide one. Mercedes-AMG CEO Stefan Weckbach said this week that the compact off-roader will not be chasing the same buyer as the original.

"We will make sure that the little G-Class will target a different segment," Weckbach said. Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius said in an interview published in October 2024 that the smaller truck should arrive in less than 24 months, and he repeated that 24-month timing again in a new interview six days ago. That points to an expected debut around 2028.

Weckbach was blunt about who the Little G is for. It will not target "the real G customer," he said, separating the smaller model from the buyer who walks into a Mercedes showroom wanting the full-size G-Class and nothing smaller.

Analysts see the Little G as Mercedes' answer to compact luxury off-roaders, and a smaller G-badged SUV gives the brand a lower entry point while the larger G-Class stays at the top of the range.

Källenius has been equally clear that the two SUVs are not meant to compete with each other. He has spoken with evident pride about the G-Class's off-road pedigree, name-checking the Schöckl test mountain in Austria where the brand puts every G through its paces.

"There is only one car in the world that can do that, and that is the G," Källenius said, describing descents of 60 to 70 kilometers per hour, or roughly 37 to 43 mph, on that mountain.

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