Whether it is a standard diesel variant or a roaring, side-pipe-sporting AMG, the iconic Geländewagen, the G-Class proudly assembled at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, since its second-generation launch, absolutely dominates the luxury off-road landscape. Naturally, this total monopoly on wealthy buyers has driven rival German premium brands mad with jealousy. Audi is already rumored to be raiding the Volkswagen Group pantry to build a 4×4 using components from the new Scout Terra and Traveler. But the most direct counteroffensive comes from Munich, where BMW is reportedly working on a rugged competitor codenamed G74.
However, BMW’s approach to conquering the wilderness comes with a distinctly corporate, cost-saving twist. While the real G-Class boasts a traditional ladder-frame chassis designed to survive an apocalypse, the rumored BMW G74 will allegedly sit on the brand’s ubiquitous CLAR architecture. It’s the exact same unibody platform supporting the outgoing X5, the X6, the X7, the polarizing XM, and even low-slung cruisers like the 8 Series and M8.
Purists might scoff at a unibody mall-crawler trying to challenge Stuttgart’s finest, but BMW has a convenient defense mechanism. The Land Rover Defender L663 has been successfully printing money with a unibody setup out of its Slovakian factory since 2019.
Digital artist Nikita Chuyko from Kolesa recently dropped a rendering that will definitely not win any international beauty pageants. Sporting the controversial, visor-like front grille of the upcoming electric Neue Klasse family, the rendered BMW G74 looks less like a menacing G-Wagen killer and more like a Suzuki Jimny that underwent a terrifying, steroid-fueled growth spurt.
The CGI creation desperately attempts to check every off-road box, featuring a rugged front bumper with a skid plate, bright recovery hooks, beefy wheel arches, and a full-size spare tire slapped onto the tailgate.
It sits on standard five-lug Y-spoke alloy wheels and features flush, overly soft door handles that look entirely inappropriate for a rugged trail. Even with high ground clearance and long-travel suspension, it is hard to imagine this blocky Neue Klasse concept tackling portal-axle territory.
