TORQNADO

Four electric motors with hypercar car levels of torque come together in the G580 to reframe an ICE SUV icon in electric, but is the G580 a real G-Wagen? Here's the tea

- Dipayan Dutta

The digital speedo shoots forward in a blur as you're thrown back into the AMG line seats, feeling 3.1 tonnes shift its weight to the earth. The horizon gets sucked into your windshield at an unsettling pace. The Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ technology (yes, that's what they call it) is alarming, even if you've spent time in the firebreathing G63 AMG. And while there's no looking away from the G-Class" global icon status, I've never really been a fan of the sheer waste that it stands for. In the G580 though, you get all of that performance, that iconic silhouette and a whole lot more torque, delivered to you through a clean tree-hugging battery electric guise. The G580 might just be the first car that I prefer in electric guise over a twin-turbo V8 counterpart, which should tell you just how iconic I think the pairing is.

Mercedes-Benz is no stranger to electrification, and the G580 with EQ technology proves that even the most traditionalist off-roaders can not just adapt but thrive in this strange new world. This is a G-Class, through and through-still slab-sided, still as aerodynamic as a brick, still dripping with that military-grade, go-anywhere presence.

The only difference is instead of a thundering twin-turbo V8 under that iconic hood, there's a 116kWh battery pack and four electric motors, one for each wheel concealed neatly under the skin dishing out a combined 579bhp and 1,164Nm of tarmacripping torque. Delivered in a heady cocktail of silence and neck-snapping G-forces.