Every August classic car fans from around the world converge on Pebble Beach in California for a very special beauty contest. This is the perfect place to premiere the exclusive Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, a sensational luxury-class coupé.
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The 2+2 seater is a homage to the glorious age of the aero coupés and consciously carries this tradition forward into the future. The coupé reinterprets classic, emotional design principles in an extreme way, following the Mercedes-Benz design philosophy of sensual purity. With its sensual, emotional design and intelligent details, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 represents the ultimate in luxury. The extremely long bonnet, the low roof line and the rearward positioning of the greenhouse recall the aero coupés of days gone by.
Cearly defined contours and organically formed wings stand in contrast to the sharply drawn, extended feature line on each side which defines the upper vehicle body from the radiator grille across the entire length of the vehicle to the rear. There is also a contrast between the Maybach red paintwork and the chrome strips which sit above the wheel arches and in the centre of the bonnet and boot lid. A reinterpretation of the Mercedes-Maybach radiator grille with its vertical struts accentuates the front end.
The front windscreen serves as a transparent display: driving-related data and geographical information is shown across its full width, augmenting the outside world with additional information. The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 is designed as an electric car. Thanks to its four compact permanent magnet synchronous electric motors, it features all-wheel drive. The output of the drive system is 550 kW (750 PS). The shallow underfloor battery has a usable capacity of approx. 80 kWh.
This not only allows performance characteristics typical of a sports car (acceleration from 0‑100 km/h in under four seconds, top speed electronically governed at 250 km/h) but also a range of over 500 kilometres according to the NEDC (over 200 miles according to EPA). Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 is clearly a very interesting concept but, at least for us, too futuristic in some details. It shows that Mercedes knows what luxury is but it went one step too far. ■
A strong storm that originated over the Pacific has tracked through the Great Basin and is currently transitioning across the Rockies to redevelop across the central High Plains later today into early Saturday morning.