Mercedes-Benz G-Class Spare Tire Carrier Turns Into Suitcase

Mercedes-Benz has filed a patent for a suitcase that looks like the spare tire carrier attached to the trunk door of the beloved G-Class. CarBuzz discovered the design patent filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office without any written claims, but the images are pretty self-explanatory.
 

As you can see, the suitcase in question is an almost exact replica of the spare wheel carrier, but instead of a tire, it only houses the extendable rails for the grab handle. G-Class owners won’t be able to mount this new suitcase to the rear of their vehicles, but it will let them take their G-Class, or a piece of it, wherever they go.
 
Mercedes did not file a patent for an entire range of luggage. Instead, the patent makes it clear that the spare tire case is an attache. That’s French for a suitcase bigger than a briefcase but also meant to carry papers.
 
Several articles are dedicated to explaining the roots and upsides of an attache case, but as far as we can tell, it’s basically overnight luggage. Imagine a suitcase used by a businessperson flying from London to New York for a meeting, staying overnight, and then flying back the next day.
 
Of course, the case is not really a spare wheel cover and is simply molded in its likeness. While it would be incredibly novel if you could use the real deal, it’d likely prove more of a hassle than anything else. Removing the spare tire from the rear of a G-Class is relatively easy but more challenging than simply opening the rear door and taking luggage out of the trunk. In addition to being an inconvenience, the mounting system for the spare tire can’t be adapted to work with a suitcase. The spare tire slides over a sizeable center tube facing inwards and is bolted to a plate using three lug nuts. You might be able to buy a replacement plate specifically for the case, but then you’d have to put the spare in the trunk.
 
While the patent showcases the design of the suitcase, we don’t know how close to the real item the case will be in size.
 
The standard G-Class spare wheel cover is geared towards housing wheels ranging from 16-18 inches in diameter, but some versions are sizable enough to house 20-inch wheels with low-profile rubber. That’s a rather large housing, and given its awkward shape, something that large may not be ideal for carry-on luggage, the size of which is strictly regulated by airlines.
 
It will be a lovely accessory for the all-electric G-Class. A sort of throwback that you can use to tell people that you have a G-Class even when it’s not with you. Or fool people into thinking you have one. Either way, Mercedes has started partnering with the fashion industry, and we can totally see this case covered in the famous Louis Vuitton livery.
 
Due to the popularity of showcasing your green credentials to the world, the G-Class has fallen out of favor with the rich and famous. Moving to Hollywood and not buying a Tesla Model S will get you canceled within weeks, but Mercedes-Benz will soon remedy this with the introduction of the all-electric EQG. Celebs will finally be able to have their cake and eat it too. The Model S stands no chance against a G-Class with an electric powertrain.
 
As we’ve seen several times, EQG prototypes have not yet featured a trunk-mounted spare carrier, but this may be added later; it’s a signature design element of the icon, after all, and was featured on the concept EQG.
 
Whether the V8 G-Class will live on remains an open question. Mercedes-Benz wants to be half EV and PHEV by 2025, but it also insists that there is room for its V8 to live on beyond 2030 under very limited circumstances.