What's the news?
Wow. This magnificent monster of a car is the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 and it's being shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2016. With a 'hot' (sensual, emotional design) and 'cool' (intelligent details) theme, this machine makes a Rolls-Royce Wraith or Mercedes S-Class Coupé look a bit diddy.
Exterior
Colossal. Gigantic. Humongous. Call it what you will, but when the Vision M-M 6 clocks in at 5,700mm in length - hence the numeral in its name, as it's almost six metres long - it's not exactly compact. It is, however, beautiful, its sweeping lines designed as an homage to the aero-coupés of the past. It also rolls on sizeable 24-inch aerodynamically optimised wheels which all have a transparent, body-coloured shield fitted to permit a view of the spokes behind. That bodywork, incidentally, is finished in Maybach Red, with plenty of chrome detailing as a contrast and a 'reinterpretation' of the M-M radiator grille inspired by a pinstriped suit. No, really.
The rounded 'boat tail' is meant to evoke luxury yachts and the narrow rear lights emphasise the 2,100mm-width of the Vision 6, while above these is a split rear window. And you surely can't have failed to have noticed it sports a pair of gullwing doors, like the stunning Merc 300 SL of the 1950s. All in all, the thing looks absolutely glorious but we wouldn't want to try and stow it in a multi-storey car park.
Interior
In what is described as a 360-degree lounge interior by Mercedes-Maybach, classical swoopy design meets with the latest cutting-edge technology. It's said to be a 2+2 but we can't for the life of us work out where the rear seats are hiding and Mercedes talks about a set of two 'exclusively created' suitcases in the front of the luggage area. Rose gold is used for various accents, the sitting surfaces have a Chesterfield look, and on the floor is elm wood, which again links to the yachting theme.
Mercedes-Maybach talks about a simultaneous need to develop sustainable analogue solutions in an age of increasing digitisation, which culminates in Vision 6's 'hyperanalogue' instruments. Those are the circular, crystal-look items behind the steering wheel. The rest of the mighty Maybach coupé's displays are entirely digital, a strip of glass running around the midriff of the car showing seat and map information, among more, while the windscreen itself is used as a transparent display for driving-related data and geographical information. Gesture control is part of the 6's technological armoury, too, and you can't have failed to have noticed a human graphic on the front screen in the pictures - that's there because the leather seats have body sensors in them, monitoring the vital functions of the people onboard.
Mechanicals
Anything this big and grandiose must have an enormous turbocharged petrol V8 or V12, surely? Wrong. Instead, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 has four compact permanent magnet synchronous electric motors housed in each of its wheels, leading to all-corners drive and an emissions-free output of 750hp. Yes, 750hp. The shallow underfloor battery has a capacity of 80kWh, so with all this power on tap, the 6 can do 0-100km/h in sub-four seconds and hit the 250km/h limiter of all potent German machinery, although it can apparently also go 500km on a single charge. And talking of replenishing the battery, a quick charge function on a DC socket has a potential charging capacity of 350kW, which means in five minutes enough power can be dumped into the battery to get the car another 100km.
Anything else?
Gorden Wagener, head of design at Daimler AG, said: "Our sensational coupé, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, represents the ultimate in contemporary luxury. It is hot and cool. With its intelligent appeal and reduced, technoid look, it perfectly embodies our design philosophy of sensual purity and our pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency."
Check out the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 in action in this video.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Twt2A3Q1WQw" width="560" height="315"></iframe>