G 63 AMG 6×6

The G 63 AMG 6×6 is a three-axle, four-door G-Class pickup that Mercedes built in small numbers at Magna Steyr in Graz from 2013 to 2015. It takes the G 63 AMG's 5.5-litre biturbo V8 and seven-speed automatic, adds portal axles at all six corners, five locking differentials and an onboard compressor that inflates the 37-inch tyres from inside the cab, and gives it a designo leather interior. Mercedes called it 'the most spectacular cross-country vehicle of its time'. It began as a show car, but the response was strong enough that Mercedes sold slightly more than 100.

AN ARMY TRUCK WITH AN AMG ENGINE

The 6×6 was developed from a military truck. In 2007 Mercedes-Benz became the preferred tenderer for Australia's Land 121 Overlander project to replace the army's Land Rover Perenties. Australia eventually bought 2,268 G-Wagens in ten variants, from the working W461 range, including a six-wheeler. The Australian army was the first military customer for the 6×6, which Wikipedia describes as the first six-wheeled military vehicle Mercedes had built since 1941. Autocar reported that the military 6×6 used a 3.0-litre V6 diesel of up to 220 bhp and the older five-speed automatic.

MotorTrend reported that most of the civilian truck's cab, its three-axle frame and its retuned transfer case came from the Australian military G. The engine, the seven-speed and the diamond-quilted leather came from the G 63, the biturbo successor to the G 55 AMG. The new parts were 18-inch two-piece beadlock wheels, 37-inch tyres, Öhlins gas bypass shocks, stiffer springs, heavier bump stops and, most expensively, the geared portal hubs. Australian magazine 4×4 Australia credits those hubs to the German company LeTech, which designed and builds them.

FIVE LOCKERS, ONE COMPRESSOR

The transfer case has a 0.87:1 high range and a 2.16:1 low range. Torque is normally split 30:40:30 between the front, middle and rear axles, and an extra shaft drives the rearmost axle. Three dashboard switches lock five differentials in stages. The first locks the transfer case and the through-drive, the second adds both rear axles, and the third adds the front. MotorTrend gave the locked split as 31/42/27 and found, unlike on a normal G, that the locks would engage in high range. Mercedes quotes 460 mm (18.1 in) of ground clearance and a metre of wading depth. A Mercedes display board for the truck gives approach and departure angles of 50° and 45°.

The tyre system is what sets it apart. A compressor feeds four 20-litre tanks hidden in the rear arches. Switches in the overhead console set pressures separately for the front axle and the two rear axles, and Mercedes quotes 0.5 bar for sand to 1.8 bar for the road in under 20 seconds. The beadlocks let the tyres run very soft without coming off the rims. The truck weighs about 3,850 kg, and it carries two fuel tanks totalling 159 litres.

SOLD OUT, THEN COLLECTED

Autocar quoted £370,000 in the UK, making it the second most expensive Mercedes road car of the time after the SLS Electric Drive. MotorTrend calculated a little under $625,000 at 2013 exchange rates and noted that it was not sold in the United States. Mercedes declared it sold out in February 2015, and the last customer truck left Graz that May. A few right-hand-drive trucks were converted for buyers in South Africa, and Brabus built its own B63S-700 6×6 version. The 6×6 also appeared in Jurassic World.

It also led to later trucks. The G 500 4×4² put a long-wheelbase G body on a shortened 6×6 chassis with portal axles, and the Maybach G 650 Landaulet used the 4×4²'s running gear. In the US, the 6×6s on Bring a Trailer are legal only through NHTSA's Show or Display exemption, which limits them to 2,500 miles a year. Sale prices since 2020 have run from $500,000 to $1.17 million. That makes this the most expensive G-Wagen on the site to use off-road, and the one most likely to get through whatever you point it at.