Wanna roll like a Kardashian/NBA player/Russian gangster but can't afford the lease payments? Mercedes-Benz may soon have you covered, friend. The automaker is reportedly prepping a baby Mercedes G-Class, but it won't be a rugged SUV like its big brother — it will be a crossover.
The UK's Car magazine reports Mercedes is working on a new crossover that resembles the famously boxy and rough-and-tumble G-Class, tentatively called the GLB. They say it will enter production in 2019 and will serve as a counter to the smoother curves of the Mercedes GLA. (Maybe it will even look like the Ener-G-Force Concept from 2012, pictured above.)
While it will look like the G-Class, it will use the platform from the GLA, Car says. That same platform also underpins the A-Class, B-Class, CLA sedan and upcoming Infiniti Q30. The GLB will use the next generation of that platform, said to be currently in development.
As with all car rumors, take these reports about the GLB with a grain of salt. But it seems like a logical choice, doesn't it? The small crossover segment is one of the fastest-growing in all of autodom, and this way buyers don't have to worry about all that pesky off-roading equipment they'll never, ever use.
No, this sounds like a G-Class ideally suited to its native environment: the parking lot of a Neiman Marcus.