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Against expectation, and indeed the wishes of arch-Maybach-hater Mr Jeremy Clarkson, Mercedes is bringing back its Maybach brand. The flawed super luxury arm was discontinued when new S-Class production started, immediately outdating the typical car choice of your average Dragons' Den business overlord.
But once again, the pain of having surfboards for dogs pitched to you can be eased in the hindquarters of a plusher-than-average Merc. Next week the covers will be pulled from the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class at both the Los Angeles and Ghangzou motor shows, and the picture above is our first look at its plushly appointed rear seats.
Note the naming structure: like with AMG, Maybach is now treated as a sub-brand, ousting Benz from the Mercedes name in the process. It's also deemed an iteration of the S-Class rather than a separate car, and our sneak preview (our smartphone was taken gently from us, so no actual pics) reveals a car longer and a smidge taller than an S-Class, but save for a few styling flourishes, largely identical.
There's now a rear quarterlight window, slightly brasher chrome trim to frame the glasshouse, while the Maybach logo is placed on the C-pillar. Other than that, it's business as usual. The result, unlike the previous Maybachs, is actually a luxury car that's pleasingly subtle on the eye. Talk of vast customisation options means you can go to town if you really want, however, and no doubt many boxes will be getting ticked in the CEO ostentation wars.
It's 200mm longer than an S-Class, measuring 5453mm in length. Ola Kallenius, chief of Mercedes sales and marketing, described it as sitting a segment below the old Maybach, but it boasts more space than the old Maybach 57S. The long-rumoured S-Class Pullman, not cancelled out by the Maybach comeback, is set to sit a level above for spaciousness.
While Kallenius described Maybach as a sub-brand of Mercedes rather than merely the S-Class, he did his best to rule out any other iterations of Maybach, certainly for now.
"Maybach is at home in the top-most segment, and it belongs there", he told us. "There is no need to speculate whether other vehicles will follow".
That's no fun, though, so we press him. An even posher S-Class coupe? "For that we have no plans. This is the Maybach: a unique body shape, a feeling of space and ride quality that is unparalleled. That is our plan for now."
So does that mean Maybach always translates as 'four-door limo'? "I don't want to be dogmatic about rules, and we haven't thought through every permutation we could do for the next ten years. Our focus is on this car." That means no Maybach SUV then, for now at least.
Maybach gen2 will be produced on the same line as the S-Class at Merc's Singelfingen plant near Stuttgart. There will be three engine variants. Top dog - and the only model set to come to the UK - is the Mercedes-Maybach S600, its twin-turbo 6-litre V12 producing 523bhp and 612lb ft.
Other markets will get an S500 (5-litre V8, 449bhp) and a four-wheel-drive S400 4Matic (3-litre V6, 328bhp).
A petrol-only line up then, reflecting how low volumes will be. UK sales should sit at around 100 cars per year (compared to 3000 S-Classes). There's no word on worldwide figures; scale up the UK percentage and you're looking at around 3500 Maybach sales annually, but with China and the United States set to provide its most receptive audiences, that number could be skewed higher.
UK sales start in spring 2015, with prices confirmed in December. Expect to pay around £10-15,000 more than a comparative S600 limo, though, pitching the new Maybach S-Class at around £150,000 - roughly half the price of the old 57S. That alone ought to significantly strengthen the rebooted Maybach's chances of success...
Written By:- Stephen Dobie
More of this article on the Top gear website
