Jaco Van Der Merwe

By Jaco Van Der Merwe

Head of Motoring


Never be late in a Merc GLS 580 – 2021 Motoring Newsmaker No 17

The big daddy of Mercedes-Benz SUVs has enough oomph to ensure your kids are at school on time.


2021 was an interesting year on the South African motoring landscape.

Some things changed, like an acceleration towards greener cars, while others stayed the same like Toyota topping the monthly sales charts.

In this series of 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, The Citizen looks back at the top 20 most popular online stories of the year. The series is dominated by South Africa’s most popular body style, bakkies, while the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 was by far the most viewed single model on our website. Other local favourites in the form of hot hatches, fuel efficient hatchbacks, big, mean SUVs, compact SUVs, Mercedes-AMGs and BMW M cars also drew their fair share of attention.

In 2020, Mercedes-Benz rolled out the updated version of its big daddy SUV, the GLS. The German carmaker started with the GLS 400 locally, which was followed by the GLS 580.

After spending some time in Mercedes-Benz GLS 400 back in 2020, The Citizen had the opportunity to sample the GLS 580 early in 2021. Powered by the familiar 4.0-litre V8 engine featuring mild electrical assistance, the GLS 580 adds some serious oomph to all the luxuries and comfort experienced in the GLS 400. In fact, it has a total system output of 376 kW of power and 700 Nm of torque

Mercedes-Benz added even more spice in the form of the 466kW/850Nm AMG GLS 63 to the line-up in April. But that is almost too over the top in our opinion, as the Mercedes-Benz GLS 580 should already get you there on time. Click on the link below to see why.

2021 MOTORING NEWSMAKER: Your kids will never be late for school again in Merc’s GLS 580

To see the rest of our 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, click on the links below.

NO 18: Toyota HiAce 54 years young

NO 19: New Ford Ranger revealed

NO 20: How to get a Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR-S stuck in the mud

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