Mercedes G-Class Cabriolet Teased In Prototype Form

Can you see it? Underneath that prototype camo that’s clearly doing a great job of disguising it? We’ll help you out, just in case your eyes are entirely dazzled by this brilliant act of deception: it’s the new Mercedes G-Class Cabrio, pictured for the first time in prototype form rather than a shadowy teaser image.

We first learned earlier this year that the drop-top G will be making a return following a 12-year absence (barring the limited-run Maybach G650 Landaulet from 2017), and this is our first look at the car proper. Despite Merc’s brilliant ruse, we can see that… yep, it’s a G-Class Cabrio.

Specifically, it looks like it’s going to get a similar roof arrangement to that Landaulet, leaving the rearmost section of the cabin completely open when the top’s down so it looks like a sort of weird pickup truck in profile.

Merc is currently testing it on the roads of Austria, where the G is built by Magna-Steyr, and soon, says the company, it’ll be heading to the icy depths of the Arctic Circle to ensure everything works properly for those heroes who drive with the top down even in the depths of winter.

No word yet on what powertrains it’ll receive – as a reminder, the hard-top G comes with six-cylinder petrol or diesel power, as an AMG V8 or as a full EV, and we don’t see a reason why any of the above shouldn’t be subjected to the roof-off treatment.

Interestingly, though, Merc does refer to it as a ‘special edition’, so maybe it won’t be the full production model we were initially expecting. We’ll likely find out more in the new year, when we should finally see what it looks like. Because obviously, we definitely can’t tell at the moment.