Gurkha,

Too bad its not sold in the USA. I would like a G-wagon but can't afford one. The Gurka would be a nice affordable G-wagon clone especially since some of the parts and the engine are MB.

P E H

I wanna one too
 

Yahhhhhh..... here here.... in a few year I would love a sweet 4x4 like that to run on Vegetable oil fuels. I was thinking getting a used Jeep Liberty diesel (they come out in 2004 supposedly) but one of these would be nicer. Never get thru emmision testing though. :(

Coach, I thought you were moving to Florida. We don't have emissions inspections down here. Or any kind of inspection, for that matter. We have all kinds of heaps on the road!

Hmmm...I didn't know Florida has no inspections either...In Oregon we don't have vehicle inspections either, and yes, we too have the biggest heaps driving down our roads...It's funny to see how a car can still run even in such a terrible condition:D

Import laws.... it has to pass FEDERAL emmision standards or be more than 25yrs old or they wont allow it in the counry. Its realllll complicated to get something into the US and I can understand why.

Yes, there is that. I had a conversation with Arup (Gurkha) this morning. He's trying to convince me to move to India just so I can drive some cool vehicles. It certainly sounds tempting. I'm also considering purchase and importation of a brand new turbo OM616 for installation into a W123. All I need now is some free time and ready cash at the same time. :D

The same import rules follow for JUST ENGINES. Make sure you use an importer here in the US!!! who knows all the ins and outs. For example you may have to remove the turbo and pass it off as a regular OM616 (they didnt have turbos right?) to get it thru customs. If the numbers on the block do not correspond with the normal numeration of the previously imported OM616 engines you may have problems too. They dont care if it is a copy of the OM616.. (which it is not exactly anyway) they just care if "that" exact engine model has passed the US standards before. It can be done... just use someone that knows how. Its not illegal just got to know where to dot the I's etc.

I don't know the import laws, so take this comment with a grain of salt. I talked to a mechanic who works at Fed Ex about their Sprinters. He told me that when Fed Ex wanted to test them out, they bought complete vehicles in Germany, disassembled them so they could import them into the US as 'parts', then reassembled them in a Southern state somewhere. All this to avoid emissions testing.
After deciding they wanted them, the emissions equipment was added by MB.
All this to hint that perhaps you could import an engine without it meeting emissions standards. Maybe you would have to import the block and head separately or something like that.

I do have all the paperwork that goes along with my 409d which was imported by Europa in Santa Fe. They did test the emissions as well as other 'safety' items.

I've heard this several times about this being used for engines etc. Rare occasion whole vehicles. They tend to catch that a million pieces of an vehicle is being delivered in a short time frame to one very small area. A guy tried to bring in a Porche that way. He was given something like 25 days to get it out of the country when they caught him with it reassembled. Lost his shirt on the $150,000 200mph Porche

Guys,

If is any consolation, the OM 616 passes the most stringent Euro-IV norms which are way higher than the ones in the US. Also the OM 616 turbo is officialy manufactered by MB and is officialy sold so there shoudnt be any problems.


P.E.

As I suggested to Rick and others, generate enough interest and I will try my best to convince the company here to sell it in the US, they were initially interested but were afraid that a 91bhp oogly vehicle like this would have any takers. By the was, the whole powertrain is MB and the ultra fexible tubular chasis too comes from there.

Do you think Mercedes would permit the importation of these vehicles into the USA when the G-Wagon is imported by Europa in Santa Fe? Granted, there are differences in powerplant, but it would cut into their G-Wagon sales.

I think the G-wagon is marketed wayyyy upscale. The Gurkha could be offered as an entry-level hunting rig, or stripped down base model for the 'real' offroad crowd. I think there'd be a market, especially if the thing gets decent fuel mileage-- as it should. I wonder what price range they could reasonable offer it for, and would it need to be brought up to US-spec safety codes and such? That could get pricey real quick. :(

Well... bring it in under a different label. Dont call it an MB. The gear the label for a set of folks who would never buy a MB cause its "too this" or "too ritzy" etc etc. for their taste..... give me a good ol hard working Ford crowd kinda folk, (who have money though)..

LOL.... Zeitgeist, I think we posted at the same time. We certainly have the same concept in marketing stratagy in mind. Might be a market for it now that the Jeep Rubicon has oppend up the "real 4x4" market.

hmmmmm..... but that too is a Daimler product so........ that might hold that conglomerate from bringing it in too.

It is exactly the reason why it is selling in Germany and other parts of Europe, farmers, miners are all lapping it up due to its extremely rugged, durable and spartan nature. The fact that it goes for DM22000 also helps. There is nothing to break in it and it can be submerged quite deep in the water as the interior is all metal affair, designed to do so.

If anyone of you reads German, I would be glad to mail you a copy of the German 4x4 magazine test of the Gurkha.

Isn't the G-wagon sold directly through MBUSA now? I believe Europa is out of the loop these days.

Since there is no Diesel or workhorse version of the G, it shouldn't be that big a deal, but I'd hate to see something as practical as a Gurkha take on a luxury flair to gain acceptance in the US market.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD