At the Beijing Motor Show in April 2018, Mercedes-Benz introduced a strange concept car, under the ultra-luxury Maybach name. The Vision Ultimate Luxury looks like a huge three-box sedan, resting on 24-inch wheels and as high as a large SUV. Electric motors in each wheel make it a 500 hp 4WD model. Mercedes-Benz ultimately did not dare to make it a series-produced car.

Maybach had a first life from 1909 to 1940 and began to produce automobiles in 1921. This cabriolet was based on a 1938 Maybach SW 38. Spohn designed this ponton-bodied model in 1950, with fully-integrated fenders. The original 3.8-litre is replaced here by a 4.2-litre.

Maybach is Mercedes’s ultra-luxury brand and produced cars between 2005 and 2012. Initially, this manufacturer was founded in 1921 by Wilhelm Maybach, who died in 1929. His son, Karl, took over and launched, in 1935, the SW35 equipped with a 3.5-litre 6-cylinder, followed by this 3.8-litre SW38 from 1936. This convertible version was designed in 1938 by the German coachbuilder Spohn.

Resurrected between 2002 and 2012, this upmarket German brand had a first life from 1909 to 1940. In the 1930s, the new motorways in Germany encouraged car manufacturers to work on aerodynamics. This prototype, designed for testing high-performance tyres (for a short time, because of WWII), was made in 1939. Thanks to its drag coefficient (0.25), its maximum speed could exceed 200 km/h.

Introduced in March 2017 in Geneva, this G-Class was the culmination of the career of the famous Mercedes SUV, launched in 1979 and replaced in 2018. This G650 receives the name Maybach, associated to luxury Mercedes models. Limited to 99 units, this version is based on a stretched wheelbase, turned into a landaulet (with a convertible rear part) and receives a 630 hp twin-turbo V12.