I thought the civilian Hummer (H1) had that type of axle/hub assembly. . . they had the wheels lower than the axles with some kind of gear assembly to transfer the power down to the wheels.
H2, and H3 changed that and made the Hummer much less.

Now THAT's what I call a truck! I'll take one in matte black thank you!

Nice! But is it a full 4-seater cabin or only 2 and 2 kids? And is that a full 2 metre ute bed or shorter? I'd love to fit a camper body or build accommodation on the back and tour Australia (apart from the petrol mileage).

The three axle six wheel layout is more efficient than the two axle six wheel layout as well. I'll take mine in white.

This is not new technology. This is exactly what made the Unimog such an undefeated vehicle! This is actually by the looks of it a Super Mog

This machine is an absolute DESECRATION of our beloved planet. Someone with more money than sense, and with no regard to our environment, is the only likey customer!!! OK, someone was going to say it anyway. As a niche off-road vehicle this sure pushes about all the buttons there are. I wonder, if someone is serious about taking this somewhere really off the beaten path, wouldn't a diesel make more sense? But given the level of luxury offered, most will never see that kind of hardcore use. It sure is badass, though.

Look at http://military-vehicle-photos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2198.jpg
or just google Land Rover 6x6 to see thousands of images of 6x6 vehicles like this including campers (Skud) and all sorts of utility variations.

Hey,Bruce-
I wouldn't worry about this vehicle "desecrating the earth"- at $457,000 each it is likely that the few of these that are built for public consumption(if any!)will be mall-crawlers.
"For sale-Never Been Off Road".
Mostly Arabs and such will be their prime customers and one oil rig or one army tank will do far more damage than all of these that will ever be built.
Really,people,off road machines do a lot less damage to the environment than any one major city- they just carry a higher profile of blame.
Few people forage new trails- being what they really are, most people's just "follow the leader" and only ride existing trails or stick to ORV areas.
Rigs like this Merc mostly end up in ski-resorts,pulling little trailers or.... AT THE MALL!.

Portal axles can be found in old (pre 1968) VW vans as well, so they are not being introduced to the civilian world here, by any means. I have enjoyed embarrassing the crap out of several Jeep owners with my old bus, even had one refuse to let me tow him out, he would rather freeze to death than suffer the indignation! Unimogs, Pinzgauers, and the original civilian Hummers also have had them. The portal axle Unimogs have always had the best reputation for getting through where nothing else can, except maybe a helicopter! I have fantasised about building a 6x6 Chevy with a Duramax, but this does look like quite the beastie. Bamboo is great stuff, exceptionally renewable, but the "solid bamboo" thing belongs in a George Carlin comedy routine.

Looks Expensive to me. They should enter it in the Baja 1000 and see what it can really do. I am afraid to ask the price.