At the end of July, Mercedes-Benz announced a collaboration with Virgil Abloh to launch an art project named Project Geländewagen. Earlier, both parties revealed that the project would be led by an artistic perspective, with the iconic Mercedes-Benz G-Class as the main focus. Yesterday, the “art piece” G-Wagen designed by Virgil Abloh himself finally made its official debut.
For this project, the G-Wagen was chosen as the vehicle model, inspired by the fact that both Virgil Abloh and Mercedes-Benz CEO Gorden Wagener are fans and owners of this model. Virgil Abloh even stated: “The appearance of the G-Wagen, for me, is one of my favorite design objects, second only to the iPhone brought by Steve Jobs. It represents eternity.”
This time, the Project Geländewagen, jointly planned by both parties, reshapes the iconic silhouette of the G-Class that has been used for 41 years. It can be seen that the body height of the new work has been significantly lowered, paired with a rather exaggerated body-kit surround kit, from the front and rear bumper “handles” to the wide side skirts, special edition “ghost face mask”, and if you look closely, the original door handles have also been replaced with belt-style ones.
Of course, apart from the exterior of the car, the most special part must be the body color matching. From a distance, it looks like a shiny white color scheme, but in fact, when observed from the roof and front of the car, it has an unfinished semi-polished effect. Gorden Wagener shared that this design concept symbolizes eternity, and the unfinished feeling on the body hopes to express the most original feeling, as well as celebrate the unique hand-designed features of this G-Class, “making it special in its original imperfection”.
Although Project Geländewagen is carried out with an artistic nature, there have been many changes made to the interior of the car. In recent years, Mercedes-Benz has increasingly focused on technological elements, but this collaboration sings a different tune. The project removes the majority of the control panel designs found in most Mercedes models, replacing them with the most traditional dashboard, pedals, roll cage, and even an original fire extinguisher placed between the seats. The steering wheel has also been replaced with a style inspired by F1 race cars, transforming this G-Class instantly into a GT or Rally car.
Mercedes-Benz had already stated that the Project Geländewagen model would not be available to the public when it was first announced, and would be auctioned for charity after completion, with all proceeds donated to art organizations to help the art industry during the pandemic. Virgil Abloh has also emphasized that this collaboration will be a charitable art project. Therefore, Mercedes announced that this special G-Class model will be released as a 1:3 scale replica, and will be auctioned at the Sotheby’s “Contemporary Curated” auction in October, allowing this finished product to be showcased at this prestigious annual auction. The car manufacturer and auction house revealed that the estimated value of the Project Geländewagen G-Class model is between $60,000 and $80,000 USD.
