Mercedes G-Class LAPV spied

That's 'LAPV' for Light Armoured Patrol Vehicle...

By Matt Bird / Sunday, 24 January 2016 / Loading comments

For most people, the Mercedes G-Wagen is a fairly tough vehicle as standard. See for example

and his 500,000-mile trek around the globe for more than 20 years in a 300 diesel. But what if you need something even more impenetrable than a regular Gelandewagen? What if the

Range Rover Sentinel

is a bit soft? And what if you want to drive something that appears to belong in a zombie apocalypse movie?

Now this is a 4x4!

Then there's the G-Wagen Light Armoured Patrol Vehicle, or LAPV. We never knew such a thing existed and have no idea on availability, but these are prototype images that had to be shared.

Where to start?! It looks like no other G-Wagen, built high up and slab sided. There are four external mirrors to keep an eye on threats, a snorkel if you have to be really drastic in evasive measures and a winch for if it goes wrong. The window apertures are tiny and presumably use quadruple glazed glass.

The suspension, ride height and tyres look designed to cover any terrain at any speed. Portal axles as fitted to the 6x6 and G500 'squared' tuck the diffs up for increased ground clearance and those paired, gold anodised damper struts look pretty trick too. Indeed, if they do carry on making Fast & Furious films and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson needs a new vehicle, we have it right here.

Now can we see an LAPD LAPV?

According to our sources, the LAPV is a joint project between Mercedes and Magna Steyr, the latter's Graz factory home to the G-Wagen from the start and the brand under which military versions were traditionally sold. Apparently it's being designed for armed forces use as well as "extreme conditions". Wonder what those could be?

Presumably if you match the criteria for an LAPV then Mercedes will have been in touch with your people to discuss the finer details. Hopefully there's an official release imminent so we can know the full spec, including that most important question: will it have the tablet screen stuck on top of the dash?