For an ultra-luxury brand whose fate was sealed in ignominious fashion, and which made a comeback as a mere trim level for the S-Class, this enormous Vision Mercedes-Maybach coupé is something of a major new statement. The huge, art-deco-ish car will make its debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event, which draws the cream of the globe’s motor-loving glitterati.
The massive coupé is a full 6m long, but don’t go poking around underneath looking for an S-Class chassis – for now, this car is purely a design statement and a hint at where future Mercedes-Maybach models are going.
The hyphenation is significant; as a stand-alone brand, Maybach crashed and burned when presented with rivalry from the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley, so Mercedes is being careful to present its rebirth as closely allied with the existing three-pointed-star line-up.
Staggering luxury
Behind that massive grille is likely to be a petrol-electric hybrid power train, probably a development of the existing plug-in 500e S-Class set-up.
Inside is a staggeringly luxurious two-seat interior made up of white leather, bright blue backlighting and copper-effect trim.
A number of car-makers will be bringing factory-fresh super-luxury models to the Pebble Beach event. If the cheque books at Pebble start flapping, there could well be a production future for this car, especially if the rumours surrounding Maybach are true.
One can only guess what the price would be, but don’t expect much change from €750,000.
The rumours suggest that as well as acting as a super-luxury trim level, Maybach could rival the likes of Rolls and Bentley by producing one-off or short production runs of special stand-alone models.
