Automotive

Mercedes-Benz gets all postmodern with a G-Wagen race car

Mercedes-Benz gets all postmodern with a G-Wagen race car
The Mercedes-Benz Project Geländewage is a design concept collaboration between Mercedes Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener and Louis Vuitton Men's Artistic Director Virgil Abloh
The Mercedes-Benz Project Geländewage is a design concept collaboration between Mercedes Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener and Louis Vuitton Men's Artistic Director Virgil Abloh
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Window nets and wide arches
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Window nets and wide arches
All the interior fittings are gone
2/12
All the interior fittings are gone
Crossed-out headlights
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Crossed-out headlights
Oh go on, cross out the air vents too
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Oh go on, cross out the air vents too
Fire extinguisher fits the color scheme
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Fire extinguisher fits the color scheme
Carbon race seats
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Carbon race seats
Side-vent exhausts
7/12
Side-vent exhausts
Those are fashion Dymo labels, darling
8/12
Those are fashion Dymo labels, darling
F1-style steering wheel from the Project One
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F1-style steering wheel from the Project One
Goodyear-style logos on the fat racing slicks
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Goodyear-style logos on the fat racing slicks
Paint is deliberately half-sanded because postmodernism
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Paint is deliberately half-sanded because postmodernism
The Mercedes-Benz Project Geländewage is a design concept collaboration between Mercedes Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener and Louis Vuitton Men's Artistic Director Virgil Abloh
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The Mercedes-Benz Project Geländewage is a design concept collaboration between Mercedes Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener and Louis Vuitton Men's Artistic Director Virgil Abloh
View gallery - 12 images

The Chief Creative Director of Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with the Men's Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton to produce ... this hideous thing. Project Geländewagen re-conceptualizes the G-Wagen as a race car, and if you think the sanded-down exterior is awful, wait until you take a peek inside.

It's fashion, baby. It's post-modern. It's deconstructionist. It "runs away from the idea of perfection" in an attempt to "disrupt future perceptions of luxury" and "celebrates the extraordinary." It hopes to inspire "young artists, engineers and designers to question the status quo," and Mercedes-Benz's VP of Marketing says it "perfectly encapsulates Mercedes-Benz's manifestation of contemporary luxury."

Righty-o then! We can't be the only ones thinking this emperor looks a tad on the trouserless side. High-minded artists Gorden Wagener and Virgil Abloh have taken the G Wagen, slammed it down low, widened it out with fat, racy bodywork, including side-vent exhausts, and sanded back half the paintwork in case people might think it looked too perfect.

F1-style steering wheel from the Project One
F1-style steering wheel from the Project One

They've completely gutted the interior and fitted a videogame-style steering wheel from the Project One, carbon race seats, window nets and a fire extinguisher. They've also fitted fat race slicks with Mercedes-Benz written in yellow where the Goodyear or Hankook should be.

Look, I don't know much about art, but I know what I find ridiculous, and here we are. Whatever comes after postmodernism, it can't come quickly enough. Wikipedia tells me it's post-postmodernism, which somehow sounds even worse. Just when you thought there were no new depths to be plumbed, along comes 2020.

Project Geländewagen will be auctioned as an art piece in the Sotheby's Contemporary Curated selection, and Virgil Abloh's Virgil Abloh™ "Post-Modern" Scholarship Fund will continue inspiring the next generation of artists. Enjoy a video below, and if you're feeling masochistic, why not check out more photos in the gallery.

Project Geländewagen: A Mercedes-Benz and Virgil Abloh Collaboration

Source: Mercedes-Benz

View gallery - 12 images
6 comments
6 comments
WONKY KLERKY
And so, the Grenadier cometh.
And yea, is it not writ in the book of spivery (aka. marketing), if the other buggers are at it, therefore they must be copied.
Arl bet thi:
Pound to a pinch of poo, Landrover will make a hasty retreat from Chelsea!
Mike Johnson
The vehicle is interesting and reminds me of the VW ‘Thing’ I once owned which was fun for a couple of seasons and great to travel in with convertible top and fold down windshield but INCREDIBLY NOISY as an empty metal box though this might be much better controlled on the G.
Way, way too much propaganda in the presentation though- typical G megalomania.
Should utility vehicles be stripped of all the ‘luxury’ previous designers have loaded utility vehicles with? Absolutely and a work vehicle that could be washed out with a hose would help a lot.
Username
And the winner of the 2020 concourse of ugliness is...
Bruce H. Anderson
First impression. This is a photograph of a toy, right? But somebody will buy it. There is an ass for every seat.
Nelson Hyde Chick
Is this a joke, an early April Fools stunt? When I first saw it, I thought it was a tot model.
The deerhunter
A new must-have toy for rap stars, NBA players and Rodeo Drive pimps. To park next to the Bugatti Chiron. Or am I just old and cynical?