The Mercedes-Benz G-Class Market Is About To Go Absurd

It was almost hard to believe Mercedes-Benz actually went all-in on a new generation of its iconic military off-roader, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but the decision has certainly paid off. The automaker has reportedly stopped taking orders of all G-Class trucks as it clears up its current backlog—and the books are full through 2024. That will also mean anybody with one to sell now has unbelievable power over all of Los Angeles. 

GTSpirit reports a temporary hold on orders was put into effect for the U.S. market on January 17, 2022 indefinitely, depressing every West Coast Mercedes-Benz dealership that now has to couch their cash cow. Before the hold on sales, wait times on a new G-Wagen build for U.S. customers had climbed to 15 months or more. Now it seems to have hit its limit. Such high demand amid new competitors, like the Land Rover Defender and new Ford Bronco, proves the market for lifestyle-oriented off-roaders is growing faster than ever before.

Mercedes-Benz churned over 40,000 G-Class models from the Magna Steyr factory in Austria they're assembled at last year, and yet somehow it's not enough to match global demand. G-Class production has also been a strain on the automaker's V8 lineup across the board, with "quality issues" cited as a reason for removing some V8 trims from certain U.S. model ranges last year . At least the automaker is focused on quality over quantity, but it's going to be hard telling wealthy customers "sorry" so many times over the next few years.

With expectations of an all-electric G-Wagen model going into production around 2025, as well as a likely update of the truck around that time, Mercedes-Benz seems to have called it and considers this current generation of the G-Class effectively sold out, for now. It's unclear if previously-planned hybrid G-Class models will still go into production  this year or next, which may open some opportunity to snag a new ride if you're lucky.