Mercedes-Benz has dominated this year’s prestigious “Off Road Award 2015”, taking home no less than five trophies for its best-selling SUVs, the G, GLA, GLK and GLE Coupé.
Awarded by the German Off-Road magazine, the contest has a long tradition, going back as far as 1982, when readers were first asked to cast their votes for the best off-road vehicles of the year. This year 123 SUVs and off-road vehicles fought with each over, in eleven vehicle categories.
For the twelfth time in succession, the iconic Mercedes-Benz G-Class was triumphant in category B “Luxury Off Road”– an unprecedented feat in the history of “Off Road Award”. In a category contested by ten vehicles, the forefather of all present-day Mercedes-Benz SUVs amassed an amazing 33.3 percent of all votes cast, 23.5 percent ahead of the second-placed vehicle.
The Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé also impressed the readers of the magazine Off Road. The new SUV was victorious both in category G “Luxury Crossover” and in category K “Newcomer”.
The compact Mercedes-Benz GLA triumphed in category F “Crossover”, leaving a clear distance between it and the second-placed vehicle. With 22.8 percent, the GLA won more than one in five of all votes cast in a category that included 14 contenders.
The classic “SUV” category D was contested by 29 vehicles. As already in 2013, the winner was the Mercedes-Benz GLK. Despite its imminent succession by the GLC, the successful GLK took 15.8 percent of the votes, leaving numerous newer vehicles clearly in its wake.
The Mercedes-Benz Unimog also left with one of the trophies, being voted Vehicle of the Year by Off Road readers in the “Special-purpose Vehicles” category for the eleventh time in succession.
