mercedes-benz debuts moncler by NIGO’s project G-class with convertible top in shanghai

using a model from 1990s, the trio turns the vehicle into an automotive art piece with boom boxes on the removable roof.

matthew burgos October 19, 2024 5 min

City of Genius in shanghai with mercedes-benz, moncler, and NIGO

In Shanghai, Mercedes-Benz and Moncler introduce its recent iteration for Project G-Class, inspired by KENZO creative director, NIGO. It’s a chain of inspiration for the car manufacturer and fashion brand. They restore a G-Class model from 1990s into an automotive art piece that draws design influences from the fashion flair of NIGO. Then, this automobile piece itself gives birth to two more projects: a limited-edition G-Class that’s based on this art piece, and a gender-neutral fashion collection designed by Mercedes-Benz and Moncler together with NIGO.

All of these are showcased at the City of Genius show in Shanghai, China, on October 19th, 2024. It’s not the first rodeo of the two companies because back in 2023, they collaborated for Project Mondo G, where Moncler cladded the wheels of Mercedes-Benz’s Project G-Class with its signature puffer jacket. This season, that puffer jacket is no longer shiny and silver but in black, covering the convertible top of the automotive art piece. The design teams retain the exterior work of the 1990s model, but when the visitors to the show step inside, they see a reworked interior.

mercedes-benz moncler NIGO — all photos by Thibaut Grevet, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Project G-Class ‘Past II Future’ with boom boxes on roof

Mercedes-Benz, Moncler, and NIGO bring in G-Class enthusiast Devon Turnbull for the art-piece project named Past II Future. His role matches what he’s known for, which is audio installations, as he designs boom boxes mounted on the convertible top of the G-Class. Past II Future is versatile because its entire roof and these speakers are removable to unveil the checkered pattern of the benches and seats, colored in black and gray. They’re a modern take on the typical design that appeared in the earlier G-Class models.

Outside, silver and military green hues cover the exterior, where the iconic spare wheel on the rear tailgate, original to the model, is wrapped with a Moncler covering. The foldable windscreen remains in the Project G-Class with Moncler and NIGO, and the design teams plant a gold-coloured fuel can at the rear, next to the spare wheel. This shade of gold, along with accents in orange, harks back to the gender-neutral fashion collection by the trio, tying them all up in cyclic referencing.

Real-life G-Class inspired by ‘Past II Future’ art piece

Away from the automotive art piece, Mercedes-Benz is set to release real-life models of the G-Class inspired by its collaboration with Moncler and NIGO. The manufacturer puts its new G 450 d model as the base and the G-Class Past II Future as the design foundation. It shows through the two-tone paintwork on the outside as well as the checkered upholstery for the seats. The spare wheel is still there on the rear, engraved with the logos of the manufacturer and the fashion brand.

The convertible roof with boom boxes and puffer-jacket design is absent, but the design teams make up for it by adding black exterior accents around the window frames, light-metal alloy wheels, and the signature bumper guard of the flanks, which has the lettering Past II Future. When owners hop inside, they find the center console marked with ‘1 of 20’ limited series number to make sure they know there are only 20 of them who own the specific model. Mercedes-Benz says that the G-Class Past II Future models are set for April 2025 delivery.