Its last attempt at a Rolls-Royce rival was a commercial flop, but at the 2014 LA motor show today Mercedes proved it was ready for another go, resurrecting the Maybach brand for a second time with a luxury-laden S-class limo.
Priced at around £30-40k more than the current range-topping long-wheelbase S600, the circa £170k Mercedes-Maybach S-class gets a further 200mm of metal between the wheels and has, Mercedes design chief Gordon Wagener claims, the quietest rear cabin of any production car in the world.
Apart from the extra wheelbase, the Maybach S-class will come with unique reclining rear seats, leather covering almost every single surface bar the floor and the glass, and offer endless scope for personalisation.
Compared with the last Maybach, which lasted from 2002 to 2011, the new car is consciously less gauche. At the front, a Maybach badge sits atop a grille featuring paired bars, but in no way shouts that this is anything other than a regular S-class. The big changes are at the rear, where the sheet metal has undergone changes to provide occupants with maximum privacy. An extra window is squeezed into the C-pillar, which also brandishes the Maybach badge, and rear passengers sit cocooned behind the shut line of the rear door.
Read Article