LOS ANGELES – Silence is golden, and potentially highly profitable for German luxury brand Mercedes.
Tasked with one-upping the S-Class sedan, a technology-laden model that tops out at $222,000 and already is lathered in luxury, Daimler engineers focused mostly on making the car’s cabin quieter for the new high-end Maybach version that made its North American debut at the Los Angeles auto show.
The latest Mercedes flagship model revives a nameplate on hiatus since late 2012, after failing in its mission to challenge Rolls-Royce and Bentley in the upper reaches of the ultra-luxury sector. The new version is somewhat less ambitious and lower-priced, positioned more conservatively as the ultimate trim level atop the S-Class range rather than as a unique model line.
The strategy suggests Mercedes believes its buyers more readily will opt for a new higher-trim, longer-wheelbase version of the S-Class at a less-inflated price than the number willing to make the bigger leap to an entirely separate model line at more than triple the cost.
Like the S65 AMG now positioned atop the S-Class lineup, the new Maybach S600 sedan will be priced around $200,000 when it hits the market in spring 2015, Mercedes says. Prices for the previous-gen Maybach started above $300,000 and topped $600,000 fully loaded.
“Price is less than half, but from (a) performance (standpoint) it’s double,” Hermann Storp, director-global S-Class development, says of the Maybach following the car’s U.S. debut here.
The new flagship adds about 8 ins. (203 mm) in overall length and wheelbase on the standard S-Class, measuring 214.6 ins. (5,480.8 mm) and 132.5 ins. (3,365.5 mm), respectively, creating a more cavernous rear-passenger compartment.
The Maybach is loaded with luxury, from its wall-to-wall leather to its chrome-plated speaker grilles and analogue clock that has individually milled and applied numerals. Also onboard are perfume fragrancing technology and a Burmester sound system. Rear passengers can recline their seats up to 43.5 degrees.
In the U.S., the Maybach will be offered only with a 6.0L bi-turbo V-12, generating 523 hp and 612 lb.-ft. (830 Nm) of torque. But in other global markets, Mercedes will offer the car also with a V-8, and China will get a third engine, a 6-cyl., expected to be the market’s engine of choice.
“We are really convinced the Chinese will buy 80% 6-cyl., because they need the space but they don’t need (a) fully equipped (car),” Storp says. “It’s different from American (buying) behavior.”
Exterior styling changes include a shorter rear door that enhances rear-seat privacy, special wheels, exclusive grille treatment, extra chrome and unique Maybach badging.
Asked to point to the key features that separate the Maybach from the current top-end S600, Storp doesn’t hesitate in calling out what he bills as industry-leading cabin acoustics.
“We reduced (noise, vibration and harshness) to an absolute minimum,” he says. “I’m absolutely convinced from an NVH (standpoint), this is the best car in the world.”
To get there Mercedes improved the rigidity of the S-Class body-in-white and added an extra layer of insulation below the rear seats to muffle unwanted noise. It also created such an airtight seal with the doors that a special vent is needed to let air exit the car through the trunk so the doors can be closed.
In testing, the standard S-Class already surpassed Rolls and Bentley in NVH, Storp contends. “And this car is better.”
Road noise is reduced further by unique tires that have a special inner layer of insulation.
“Noise from the (road) surface is absolutely reduced,” the Mercedes engineer says. “There’s absolutely nothing left.”
Despite the unique body construction and other features, Maybach production will be integrated into the regular mix at the Sindelfingen, Germany, plant.
“Maybach needs a little bit more time than a normal S-Class, so in logistics they have to (schedule) three or four normal-equipped S-Classes, then one Maybach,” Storp says. “But we can react to the market. If the Chinese or the Americans ask for 100 Maybach cars a day, we can assemble 100. If they ask for one, we assemble one.”
Mercedes isn’t planning a plug-in hybrid version of the car – the S-Class already offers such a powertrain – or a diesel, but Storp says neither powertrain would present a huge hurdle should markets demand it.
“For now there’s no call for it,” he says. “(But) if we have to react to fuel consumption, give me the task and two years later, perhaps faster, we can have a plug-in for Maybach.”
As for a diesel, he says a 4-cyl. diesel, already offered in the S-Class in Europe, could make a nice fit for the Maybach, as well.
“It’s no trouble, I can do it,” Storp says.
