Tag Archives: Maybach
2020 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabin Is Made of Money
In 2020, we’re going to see a new model for the flagship sedan of Mercedes-Benz. The photos of the next Mercedes-Benz S-Class’ testing may have showed no changes on the exterior, but the cabin will likely receive a do-over that would enhance the driver and passenger experience.
Hartmut Sinkwitz, Mercedes’ director of interior design, was interviewed during the 2018 Beijing Auto Show where the Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury was revealed. For the 2020 S-Class, Sinkwitz said the design for the car’s interior should place emphasis on appealing to the driver’s and the passengers’ sense of touch. This means ditching the current scroll wheel interface for the COMAND infotainment systems. It will be replaced with touchscreen and touchpad systems similar to those found in the Mercedes E-Class.
As we know, the current Mercedes are fitted with a pair of side-by-side 12.3-inch screens. That would have to change as well because Sinkwitz believes that the screens must evolve to accommodate the kind of lifestyles the passengers have. Since the S-Class is in the “executive level sedan,” there must be a new screen. While the new screen will not necessarily be sizable, it would have to provide the same kind of convenience and luxury expected from an executive’s sedan. Sinkwitz, by the way, considers huge screens for Mercedes as impersonal.
The screens would most likely mirror the same ones seen on the Ultimate Luxury concept revealed in China. The screens feature a pair of active fields displayed within a broad, horizontal glass panel. This is what would be fitted in every Mercedes luxury models from the next GLE-Class and up.
There are changes in the interior lighting, too. The current-generation S-Class has seven different ambient light colors, including five dimming levels and four dimming zones in its LED-capacitated cabin. With the E-Class, there’s 64 ambient lighting colors. The S-Class might push for more than that.
Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury SUV Gets Chinese-Inspired Interior
The Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury SUV, a concept high-end luxury SUV, was unveiled at the 2018 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. It got that sleek, cherry red finish aimed at the Chinese market because red in China means happiness, luck, and joy.
But we’re here about the elegant, luxurious, and spacious interior of this concept SUV. The design is a mix of Western and Far Eastern influences, incorporating Chinese design elements like ebony, the known “Magic Wood” used in Chinese furniture. The highlight of the SUV’s interior is the tea set hidden in the center console that extends to the rear. The heated tea set, that includes teapots and teacups, is integrated into a sculpted wooden tray made of ebony. It can be electrically retracted into the console at the push of a button. Talk about fancy, huh?
Aside from the hidden heated tea set, there are other exciting features in the SUV. This includes the seat with SUV-like position, sitting higher than in a sedan. They are wrapped in fine Nappa leather with a diamond quilt design. The front section is finished off by a Rose Gold trim, Pearly Grey detailing, and brushed aluminum elements.
The rear section gets even more comfortable. It is very spacious and has lots of legroom in front of the two seats. The seats have lateral support and leather-wrapped pillows, perfect for long and tedious drives.
The simple but elegant center console houses double 12.3-inch displays for the driver, a touchscreen and touchpad on the center console, and touch control buttons on the steering wheel. There is voice recognition capability that could adjust to the user’s voice and adapt to new words being used.
If Mercedes pushes through with the production of this concept vehicle, it will be a class of its own. And maybe, Mercedes will finally have something to compete with Rolls Royce.
The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet Will Make Your Hearts Go Faster
If there was any one reason to visit the prestigious and exclusive Monterey Car Week in California, this was it—the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet.
When you first look at it, you’ll probably think about a shorter version of the Vision Mercedes-Maybach revealed during the Pebble Beach Show last year. And yet, for the life of us, we know there is so much more about this year’s version. And we were not wrong.
On the outside, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet looks like a Riva speedboat, thanks to its angular rear end that seems to just end without so much as a peepshow of a trunk. Some said it even looks like a pen; a very exclusive and expensive one at that. What’s bothering us is the fact that the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet is 5.7 meters in length and 2.1 meters in width and yet, somehow, Mercedes just find enough time to put in two seats there. That’s a lot of excess space, if you ask us, but there is a method to this madness, of course.
Whatever space it might have for more passengers, it has to give up for the massive center-locking 24-inch wheels and four electric motors that are powered by an underfloor battery pack. It can power up to 740bhp with its four-wheel drive system. The electric motors are powerful enough to go from 0 to 62 mph in sub-four, and the battery pack is good for a range of 310 miles.
Maybe you’re excited about the headlights or the grille, but the true luxury astounds you once the white fabric roof with interwoven rose gold threads reveal what’s inside: crystal white nappa leather, a full-width digital display, and illuminated buttons stitched into the seats. The center tunnel looks like it’s floating and transparent (blue fiber optic lights show the car’s energy flow).
This is a concept, or a vision, for now, but we do hope Mercedes engineers would put its heads together and just turn this into a production car.
Mercedes-Maybach SUV Might Be In The Works
We might have dreamed about it until the day came. It was quite hard to imagine that the luxury SUVs have finally arrived. The three-pointed star marque has once again hinted that it might join the ultra elite group of carmakers with a Mercedes-Maybach SUV.
Merc is the latest in the long line of luxury carmakers that bit into the trend. Bentley has the Bentayga. Rolls Royce has the Project Cullinan. Lamborghini has the Urus by 2018. Aston Martin has a plan based on the DBX concept.
However, a Merc official said that although Mercedes is willing and even able to build a luxury SUV, it cannot be done on the current platform. So, if ever Merc does build a luxury SUV, it would be on the next generation platform.
This makes sense, of course, since Maybach’s release, which was based on a completely different portfolio than the previous version, has been widely successful in places like China.
In China, the automaker sold more of the new long-wheelbase Mercedes-Maybach S-Class in a month than it was able to do so during the old Maybach’s “best year.” This renaissance was the push Merc needed in order to plan ahead again.
An SUV based on this current lineup is a wise decision, especially because the SUV has been slowly catering to Merc drivers as well. Since bringing back the M-Class in 1997, the SUV segment has been successful.
Ola Källenius, a Merc board member, said there is an unbroken trend in SUV because people love the high seats, sporty image and all-around usefulness for outdoor adventures. He believes the SUV trend will continue in years to come.
In Mercedes, 30 to 40 percent of the portfolio are SUVs, which Källenius said all carry the Mercedes imaging, meaning there’s no actual conflict in creating a Maybach SUV.