Most consumers know Mercedes-Benz as a luxury automaker that produces lavish consumer vehicles with elegant styling and comfortable interiors. But those with more familiarity with the company know that icons like the S-Class are just the tip of the iceberg. Under the usual lineup of cars and SUVs designed for everyday drivers, you’ll find the G-Class—a Jeep Wrangler-like off-road SUV that mixes rugged capability with the brand’s trademark luxury. Dig deeper, and you’ll find even more utilitarian vehicles designed for commercial use, like the Sprinter van.
Deeper still, you’ll find the Unimog. While this model is uncommon here in the States, it’s a Swiss Army knife of a vehicle that can be found all over the world. Historically, this model has been even more utilitarian than the Sprinter; designed for hard work, it is a world apart from the luxurious side of Mercedes-Benz.
However, the Unimog recently made waves in the automotive industry thanks to the release of a new, luxurious variant. This truck adds leather ergonomic seats, digital cameras that replace traditional mirrors, and a different engine that increases both performance and passenger comfort. The very existence of this deluxe Unimog raises the question: Who is it for? Let’s dive into the past and present of the Unimog to get to the bottom of this and figure out if this is a PR stunt, a misstep, or the future of off-road luxury.
A Brief History of the Unimog
Like many German products of a certain age, the Unimog doesn’t have a particularly palatable origin story. Following World War II, the Allies’ Morgenthau Plan aimed to weaken German industry. In response, the company that would become Mercedes-Benz created a universal vehicle that could work as a tractor, drive on paved roads, and handle just about any task. The engineer who created the design labeled one of his drawings “Universal-Motor-Gerät” (Gerät being the German word for a device or machine). This was quickly shortened to Unimog, and the name stuck.
The truck’s chassis was designed to give it ample ground clearance without the need for giant wheels like the ones found on tractors. With plenty of torque and axles designed to handle serious vertical movement, the Unimog lived up to its “universal” aspirations. This made the vehicle appealing in more markets than just post-war Germany. Even as restrictions were lifted and production of traditional tractors and such resumed, the Unimog continued to be produced.
Today, Unimogs are used in a variety of ways around the world. Militaries everywhere, from Argentina to Pakistan to South Korea, make use of the go-everywhere truck for transportation, ambulance service, and more. Civilians use these trucks for construction, agriculture, firefighting, and more. Their extreme off-road capability makes them a solid choice for everything from getting supplies to victims of a natural disaster to taking tourists into the jungle for a safari.
Current Mercedes-Benz Unimog Lineup
Go to the Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks website, and you’ll see two variants of the Unimog: an implement carrier and an off-roader. Both look industrial, painted a bright white, and lacking the luxuries of the model we’re focused on today. So where is this luxury variant? Where did it come from? For that, we’ll have to take a look at the company collaborating with Mercedes-Benz to make this strange upgrade happen.
Hellgeth Engineering: Unimog Customizers Extraordinaire
When you have a vehicle designed to do everything, you can expect customers to want to use it for just about any task. But what if they hit upon something too extreme for even an off-the-shelf Unimog to handle? That’s where Hellgeth Engineering comes in.
With the blessing of Mercedes-Benz, Hellgeth Engineering customizes Unimogs to meet the needs of adventurous drivers around the world. Established in 2000 in a heavily forested part of Germany, the company specializes in making the already-capable Unimog even more of a beast.
Generally, this is done on a case-by-case basis. A person in a perpetually frozen climate needs a truck that can handle the chill. A person in a rural area without access to premium fuel needs an engine that’s okay with roughing it on a lower-grade diesel. An overlander with particular requirements for their upcoming trip needs some custom equipment added. But the luxury Unimog is different.
New Deluxe Unimog
And so, we finally have the context we need to get to the star of the story: the deluxe Unimog. This unique truck was made in a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and Hellgeth Engineering to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Unimog. While the shape of the vehicle is familiar to Unimog enthusiasts, the styling touches inside and out are much closer to what you would find at a typical Mercedes-Benz dealership.
The paint job is matte grey rather than sterile white, and aluminum beadlock wheels and LED headlights round out the exterior styling. Inside, you’ll find a double cab with space for up to four people, who will be able to travel in comfort thanks to ergonomic seats and a variety of comfort features. Premium leather surfaces and contrast stitching tie the interior design together. On the tech side, traditional exterior mirrors have been replaced by cameras that offer a wider field of view so you can maneuver the big, boxy vehicle more carefully.
On top of being more comfortable, this Unimog is also, according to Mercedes-Benz, “the most powerful of all time.” The standard four-cylinder engine is out, replaced by a six-cylinder 7.7L diesel engine that delivers up to 300 horsepower and over 1,000 lb-ft of torque. This model is clearly devoted to delivering the most it can on every front imaginable.
Can I Order a Luxury Unimog?
If you’re a serious off-road enthusiast with luxurious taste and deep pockets, you may be wondering how many of these deluxe Unimogs have been produced and how you can order one. If so, you may be disappointed to learn that Mercedes-Benz and Hellgeth Engineering only produced one, and it’s a show model.
Of course, odds are that you, dear reader, are not in the market for this thing. It’s hard to imagine who would be. The Unimog is already difficult to get, especially for American buyers who need to work through specialty importers to access one at all. Most people turn to Hellgeth Engineering for specific capabilities rather than aesthetics. You certainly couldn’t practically drive this behemoth around town—where would you park it? No, there’s a reason this concept is one-of-a-kind.
What Is the Purpose of the Deluxe Unimog?
At the end of the day, the deluxe Unimog is unlikely to be a concept that leads to a new entry on the Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks Unimog webpage. Automakers often use model anniversaries to make special editions that aren’t meant to be big sellers themselves (though even a limited run will usually produce more than a single vehicle) but to generate buzz around the entire lineup.
In this instance, that buzz extends to Hellgeth Engineering. The two companies are in a symbiotic relationship of sorts—Hellgeth Engineering needs people to buy Unimogs if they’re going to make a profit customizing them, and Mercedes-Benz can sell more Unimogs if drivers who need extra capability or customized features are brought into the pool of potential buyers. This model, extremely powerful and extremely luxurious, shows just how far you can go with customization, something that might make certain people think about what the Unimog could do for them with the right mods and upfits.
