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The company, which is celebrating 60 years since it started production under the ownership of Mercedes-Benz, has created a concept truck to show what a Unimog of the future might look like.
Mercedes designers said they took inspiration from the poison dart frog.
The South American amphibian is known for its poisonous secretions that have proved useful for deadly arrow tips but Mercedes says it was the frog's ability to move on both land and in water that made it a good role model for the concept Unimog.
Unimog is a German go-anywhere truck that was created after World War II as a tractor replacement and its name is a compacted version of its original name Universal Motor Gerat (tool). The Unimog concept has an eye-catching bright paint scheme, not unlike some of the poison dart frogs whose bright coats (of various colours) are said to warn other animals of their poisonous nature.
Mercedes is keen to point out the bold concept truck, unveiled at Unimog's headquarters at Worth, in Germany, is not a prototype of a new model but does show of some ideas that might be used for future Unimogs.
"To cut a long story short, it is literally an unusual idea to make one think about the Universal-Motor-Gerat (Unimog) of the future," says Daimler commercial vehicle designer, Bertrand Janssen.
He says the concept truck is an eye-catching representation of Unimog DNA and is not simply design fantasy.
"On no account did we work in an atmosphere where our ideas were divorced from reality," Bertrand says. "Here we have a vehicle which is puristic (sic), but still clearly true to concept - with the claim, that some of its details will turn up in coming product ranges in future. We continued to take up the most important Unimog features which have characterised the vehicle for the last 60 years and which will also characterise it in future - features such as portal axles, coil springs and the frame concept."
The Unimog concept is also an open-top model, with an alloy centre spine, as was the original model which was a remarkable simple design. That vehicle was also green, although it was a far more drab olive shade of green.
Mercedes drew on previous Unimog models for the bold bonnet design, while adding a futuristic front bumper that is shaped to fit around the headlights which consist of four high powered spotlights.
There is massive ground clearance and the concept truck should have excellent all terrain capability given the suspension and is based on the current production models, with the coil springs highlighted due to their red colour.
Mercedes says the huge wheels are carved from billet aluminium (single pieces of aluminium) although they look more like conventional steel rims with five-spoke chrome covers.
It hasn't provided any details of what lies beneath the big bonnet of the concept truck. The concept Unimog is part of wide-range celebrations which have included the introduction of a special Lego U400 which is made up of more than 2000 pieces.
Speaking at one of the parties thrown for the utilitarian vehicle, by Mercedes and Unimog parent company Daimler, chairman Dieter Zetsche described the Unimog as "the John Wayne of commercial vehicles".
Today there are three different Unimog models, the U300 through to U500, the U3000 through to U5000 and the U20.
You might not have seen too many around on Australian roads, but Mercedes does officially import Unimog trucks and the extremely capable vehicles are current used for fertiliser spreading, adventure tourism and railway maintenance.
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