10 Incredible Mercedes-Benz Models We Never Got In The States

America is one of the world's largest car markets, and manufacturers are generally keen to offer as wide a range of choice to American consumers as possible. However, American buyers' tastes differ considerably from buyers in Europe and Asia, and as a result, some cars that work well in those markets don't sell as well in America. Mercedes-Benz is a perfect example of a company adapting to this reality, as it has a sprawling global lineup that covers almost every major automotive niche.

That includes plenty of cars in niches which don't usually appeal to most American buyers, so the company has quite a few models that aren't offered by Mercedes-Benz of America. Alongside buyer tastes, regulations are also a key reason for differences between markets, with bosses choosing not to alter a small-volume car to meet American regulations in some cases. We've rounded up 10 of the most impressive Mercedes-Benz models from past and present that remained out of reach for American collectors.

Mercedes-Benz has never sold its entry level A-Class hatchback in the U.S., and axed its A-Class sedan after 2022 due to low sales. That means that Americans have been missing out on what's arguably the best variant of the A-Class lineup, the A45 AMG. The U.S. did get the less potent 302 horsepower A35 AMG, at least until it was axed after 2021. However, the 415 horsepower A45 AMG remains forbidden fruit. All of those horses come from a turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder engine, and result in a 0-62 mph time of around 3.9 seconds.

The A45 AMG's top speed is officially quoted at 168 mph, and the car's all-wheel drive system ensures that it will get there frighteningly fast no matter the road conditions. Like nearly all of AMG's hot Mercedes models, the added power doesn't mean compromising on practicality either. The A45 AMG retains the comfortable cabin and low speed drivability of the standard A-Class hatchback, just with the ability to hit license-shredding speeds at a moment's notice.

While it's undoubtedly an appealing enthusiast car on paper, it's no surprise that it's never been offered in America. Hatchbacks are generally not looked upon favorably by buyers, no matter how powerful they are, and the A45 AMG's price puts it in a very niche market. The car is currently on sale in the UK for £63,285, which equates to almost $81,000 at current exchange rates.

While Americans did get the sedan version of the W202 C-Class, the wagon version never made it stateside. That meant the top-spec C43 AMG wagon also remained off limits. Produced between 1998 and 2000, the car was fairly short-lived, and was rare even in markets where it was officially sold. It's thought that only around 20% of C43 AMG production consisted of the wagon variant, and with around 4,200 examples of the car sold in total, that would mean only 800 or so wagons were sold. Most of those were left-hand drive, with an estimated 80 out of 800 built in right-hand drive configuration.

The car's 4.3L V8 engine churned out 302 horsepower, with that power boost being complimented by AMG-specific suspension and wheels. The W202 C43 AMG wasn't as much of a tire-shredding hooligan as some later AMG models, but with a 0-60 mph time of less than six seconds and a top speed of 155 mph, it was no slouch either. Like all old AMGs, it's not known for being reliable and parts can be very expensive. It's now old enough to be imported to the U.S. under the 25 year rule, but given its high running costs and niche appeal, it seems unlikely that many examples will find their way over.

The G-Class is best known in America as an SUV, but it has also been sold as a pickup truck in select other markets around the world. Mercedes no longer sells the G-Class as a pickup, although we've previously argued that a modern refresh would be a great move. For now, though, there are no official plans to bring back the G-Class truck.

The most famous iteration of the G-Class pickup is the mad G63 AMG 6x6, an ultra-high priced special edition designed for wealthy Middle Eastern customers to go blasting through the desert. However, there have also been a number of more everyday variants, mostly designed for commercial or military use. A small number of military surplus pickups have been imported into the U.S. in the years since they were decommissioned, most with sluggish but extremely durable turbodiesel engines.

Mercedes' commercial division also currently offers the W464 G 350d in Europe, which comes configured with a two-door cab and can be fitted with a pickup bed. It's a far cry from the performance-oriented G-Class SUV sold in America, with a 249 horsepower diesel engine that gives the truck a top speed of just 75 mph. While that particular variant seems unlikely to be a hit in America, equipping a pickup G-Class with the interior trappings and more powerful engines already found in the G-Class SUV would surely be a recipe for sales success.

The swooping Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake straddles the line between a wagon and a coupe, offering extra space over a sedan but with sharper looks than most family haulers. The CLA is based on the A-Class platform, and while America does get the coupe variant, the shooting brake has never been offered stateside. Underneath, the CLA Shooting Brake is mechanically the same as the rest of the CLA lineup, which in Europe means there's a 1.3L four-cylinder gas engine on offer, which can be optioned with a hybrid unit for extra grunt, or a 2.0L diesel.

In America, the current CLA coupe gets a larger four-cylinder engine with hybrid as standard, which churns out 221 horsepower. A new generation of the car is on the way, with both gas and electric powertrain options set to be offered. A report from Car and Driver claimed that Mercedes was considering offering both the coupe and the shooting brake CLA variants in America with the launch of the new generation, but for now, nothing has been confirmed.

Originally conceived as an agricultural vehicle, the Unimog has evolved over the decades into one of the most versatile off-roaders on the planet. It can perform a huge variety of roles, from providing emergency fire and medical assistance in remote territories to serving as the base chassis for an all-conquering expedition vehicle. It's the latter talent that has gained it the most fans in America, although actually finding a Unimog for sale is extremely tricky. The Unimog was briefly sold in the U.S. between 2002 and 2007, but since then they're not been officially imported. Only 184 units were reportedly bought during that time.

There are a handful of specialist importers that ship over older Unimogs and equip them with more modern, powerful engines, but there's no way to buy a new example in America. The current Euro-spec Unimog offers a choice of diesel engines with the most powerful variant making 218 horsepower and 810 Nm of torque. It's mated to a 22-speed transmission with eight forward gears, six reverse gears, and eight dedicated off-road gears. All this capability comes at a steep cost, however: prices vary depending on individual configurations, but a new Unimog will cost well over $200,000 in markets where it is currently sold.

It's arguably one of AMG's greatest products, although many enthusiasts will never have heard of it. The Mercedes-Benz SL73 AMG emerged from AMG's final years as an independent brand, before it was taken over and absorbed into Mercedes-Benz. It started life as a Mercedes SL 600 with a 6.0L V12 engine and was then shipped to AMG where the engine was bored out to 7.3L. The tuner then added some further tweaks to maximize the engine's power, with the finished product making 525 horsepower. For context, the V12-powered Ferrari 456 of the same year made around 440 horsepower.

The SL73 AMG was extremely expensive and as a result, extremely rare. Only 85 examples were built, and the car was never officially offered on U.S. shores. Instead, every example was commissioned by wealthy collectors in Europe and Asia. The car's engine was considered such an exceptional piece of engineering that Horacio Pagani borrowed it for the Zonda, which ironically ended up outselling the SL73 AMG by about three to one. Although it's worth a fraction of a Zonda today, the SL73 AMG's rarity and status as a watermark for AMG engineering ensures it fetches six figures whenever one crosses the auction block.

[Featured image by Tx-re via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 3.0]

The Mercedes-Benz AMG One is the automaker's most advanced road car to date, featuring a 1.6L V6 hybrid powertrain that draws on Formula 1 technology to produce over 1,000 horsepower. It's also limited to just 275 units, making it a grail for collectors. There's just one snag — it's not road legal in the U.S., as its engine doesn't meet regulatory requirements. That means that it can't officially be registered in America.

However, there are some potential ways that American collectors could get around the rule. Perhaps the most obvious is simply registering it in a different country and shipping it over temporarily, as anyone with $2.75 million to spend on a hypercar is likely to have properties all over the world. The other option is to attempt to bring the car in under Show and Display regulations, which permits exceptional cars that don't meet road requirements to be driven for up to 2,500 miles per year on a special exemption.

Mercedes reportedly mulled over the idea of altering the car's powertrain to meet federal regulations, but ultimately decided that it would result in an unacceptable loss of performance. That left American collectors out of luck — at least if they wanted to legally register their new hypercars in their home territory.

Much like the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6, the Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet is a limited-run G-Class variant designed to appeal to a certain breed of collector. Not only would these collectors have to be very wealthy, as the car cost over half a million dollars, but they'd also have to have a desire to be chauffeured over rough terrain in open-top luxury. Evidently, Mercedes had already worked out exactly where this very niche kind of clientele were going to be located, and it wasn't in the United States. As a result, the car was never officially offered in North America.

Under the hood, the G650 Landaulet boasted a 621 horsepower V12 engine, making the car good for a 0-60 mph time of less than six seconds despite its huge off-road tires. Its top speed was limited to 112 mph -– there was simply no need for the car to be faster given its status as luxury all-terrain transport. Buyers looking for a dune-bashing trophy truck to blast through the desert had plenty of other G-Class variants to choose from, but the G650 Landaulet's appeal came from relaxing in its reclining, quilted leather seats, enjoying the open-top roof, and conquering almost any kind of terrain in complete comfort.

The Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG was created as a limited-run tribute, with Mercedes paying homage to its DTM winning 2003 CLK race car and quietly selling each of those tribute cars to European and Asian collectors in the know. All 100 examples were quickly sold despite the car retailing for almost $300,000. The car is unlike most modern top-end AMGs, in that it's bare-bones inside, with cheap-looking interior switchgear and very little in the way of luxury. However, it wasn't built to be fancy –- just fast. Very fast indeed.

It takes 3.9 seconds for the car to hit 60 mph from a standstill, and it'll keep accelerating to a top around 200 mph. That's thanks to its supercharged 5.4L V8 engine, which churns out more than 570 horsepower, and the sticky racing tires that necessitate the car's wide fenders. The CLK DTM AMG was essentially the 2003 DTM race car converted for road duty, and although it was never officially sold in America, a handful of examples have been imported in the years since its launch. One such example can be found in the collection of the Audrain Automobile Museum in Rhode Island.

At first, it might seem like a strange choice for Mercedes-Benz to choose not to sell its most recent pickup in America. After all, the U.S. is considered to be the home of the pickup truck, and demand for models from the likes of Ford and Chevy remains high. However, buyer loyalty to these American brands partly explains why Mercedes chose not to launch the X-Class in the States, as persuading American buyers to purchase any pickup that isn't from a Big Three manufacturer is notoriously difficult.

There's also brand image to consider. In Europe, where cars like the S-Class limousine share the road with Actros semi trucks and aging E-Class taxis, Mercedes-Benz is seen as more of an all-rounder brand, equally famous for making high-end luxury and work-oriented vehicles. In America, where the former image is more dominant, the X-Class might not have lived up to those expectations. Sure, it was more luxurious than most small pickups, but it was still based on the humble Nissan Navara. At launch, only Nissan's four-cylinder engines were available under the hood.

The X-Class never caught on in the markets where it was sold either. Reviewers noted that its high asking price -– almost double that of a similarly-sized Ford Ranger -– put buyers off, and its interior couldn't match the upscale feel of Mercedes-Benz SUVs. Imperfect as it was, it's still arguably a shame that Mercedes didn't at least try to make the X-Class work in America.