Mercedes-Maybach, the ultra-luxury division of Mercedes-Benz, has revealed a dramatic new concept car at the Pebble Beach classic car concours in California.
The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 is an enormous two-door coupé, measuring nearly six metres long (hence the name) and powered by four electric motors producing a combined 750hp.
Like the other Mercedes-Benz ‘Vision’ concept cars from over the years, the 6 isn’t intended for production. It presents ideas about the company’s thinking for future developments, which will make their way into future Mercedes-Maybach models.
Rebooting the Maybach brand name
This is the second attempt by Mercedes-Benz to apply a standalone Maybach brand to its most expensive vehicles. In the early 2000s, the mammoth Maybach 57 and 62 limousines were launched as rivals to the resurgent Rolls-Royce and Bentley brands. However, the move proved to be an expensive failure and the project was finally killed off in 2013.
Now, Mercedes-Benz has gone back to what was rumoured to be it original plan: a range of models called Mercedes-Maybach, based on existing Mercedes-Benz models but kitted out with the most luxurious appointments and advanced technologies that Daimler can think of.
The first model under the new mission is the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, but Daimler is clearly trying to generate more enthusiasm and awareness of the brand by showing off a massive luxury coupé concept.
The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 features a host of technologies that are likely to appear in production vehicles over the next decade. Obviously, electric power is a foregone conclusion, as is a fully autonomous driving mode, but a windscreen which is also a giant transparent display screen and a lounge-style interior layout give indicators as to how Mercedes-Benz plans to shape future interior designs.
The relatively compact electric motors obviously don’t require the enormous bonnet space provided, so instead it is home to a bespoke set of suitcases.
The design theme is a combination of futuristic and retro, or as Mercedes-Benz describes it, “hot and cold”.
So will Mercedes-Maybach ever release a range-topping coupé of this nature? It would seem unlikely, but you never know. The company is certainly not short of the resources to commission such a project, and it desperately wants to see the Maybach name compete head-to-head with the likes of Rolls-Royce, so anything is possible.
