Why the Force Gurkha looks like a Mercedes G-Wagen

Why it looks like a G-Wagen, and why it isn't one

Plenty of Indian owners call the Force Gurkha "the poor man's G-Wagon." The boxy nose, flat doors and upright windscreen do look like a shrunk down Mercedes-Benz G-Class. But the resemblance stops at styling. The Gurkha was never built on a Mercedes G-Class platform. It carries its own ladder frame, made by Force Motors in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh. What the Gurkha actually shares with Mercedes is a much older and less glamorous story, about engines, and a factory built to German specification.

How Force Motors became Mercedes' engine partner

Force Motors was founded in 1958 as Bajaj Tempo Motors, a joint venture with Germany's Tempo for auto components, according to Wikipedia's entry on the company. In 1971, Daimler Benz bought Tempo in Germany, and with it picked up a stake in Bajaj Tempo that it held until 2001. In 1987, Force Motors opened a new plant at Pithampur that Daimler Benz specified in detail, first to build the Tempo Traveller. That plant, and the German partnership behind it, is why Force Motors has spent decades assembling Mercedes-Benz diesel engines under licence in India, starting with the OM616.

From Trax to Gurkha, and the badge that sells today

The Gurkha name itself goes back to 1992, when Force launched the Trax Gurkha, built around the "go anywhere" reputation of the Gurkha soldier, according to the brand's own Gurkha World history page. The vehicle grew into the standalone Gurkha in 2008, powered by the Mercedes derived 2.6 litre OM616 diesel, per its Wikipedia entry. Later versions used the OM611, and today's BS6 Gurkha runs Force's own FM 2.6 CR CD diesel, a direct descendant of that Mercedes licence. Force Motors still assembles Mercedes engines for Mercedes Benz India today, a relationship few Gurkha buyers know about when they sign the papers.

That history still shapes who buys the Gurkha. In March 2025, India's defence forces ordered 2,978 Gurkhas for the Army and Air Force, Force Motors says on its own news page, proof that the vehicle's military roots still matter decades after Bajaj Tempo first built trucks for the country. Force keeps the Gurkha visible to civilian buyers too, running Gurkha Trails off-road drives through 2026, including one through Mysore in February, open to owners who want a guided day on mud and rock instead of a showroom test drive.

What this means if you are buying one

A Force Gurkha 3-door costs ₹16.52 lakh ex-showroom as of now, according to Autocar India, well below a Mercedes G-Class and even below a well loaded Thar Roxx or Jimny. Buyers get genuine low range four wheel drive and a locking differential, not a styling exercise borrowed from Stuttgart. What they are not getting is any mechanical link to the G-Wagen. The G-Wagen comparison sells the Gurkha across a showroom counter. The Daimler engine licence is what actually built the company that makes it.

Sources

• Force Gurkha World, history timeline
• Force Gurkha News & Events
• Force Motors, Wikipedia
• Force Gurkha, Wikipedia
• Force Gurkha 3 Door price, Autocar India