The 2023 Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV Is Electric Excess
It’s a shame that HBO’s Succession isn’t getting another season. Poor Logan Roy, who is often whisked into and out of dramatic situations in the back of a Maybach sedan, will miss out on sampling Mercedes’ latest uber-luxe ride. For the first time, this one’s electric. It’s the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV, the first of Mercedes’ EQ line of cars to be deemed worthy of wearing the Maybach badge. While both the S-Class sedan and GLS SUV got the big-M treatment, it seems, for now at least, that only the electric SUV will get the glow-up, perhaps a subtle acknowledgement that the rear seat on the EQS sedan lacks the necessary volume.
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Full Disclosure: Mercedes-Benz wanted me to see the Maybach EQS SUV so badly, the company flew me to Lisbon, shuttled me to a closed briefing, and made available to me a selection of fine bottled waters, both still and sparkling.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
No concerns there on the EQS SUV, with its far more accommodating roofline. Though that profile stays the same, the Maybach version receives a thorough visual refresh from nose to tail. Up front, Mercedes’ three-pointed star stands tall above hood. The nose, which would otherwise be an expanse of black plastic, features vertical chrome bars, reminiscent of the vertical slats on the gas-powered Maybach grilles of yore.
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Photo: Mercedes-Benz
To either side of that faux grille, a pair of teardrop-shaped vents represent the brand with a field of repeating Maybach logos, not unlike the sort of pattern you’d see on the inside of a high-end designer bag.
Come around to the side and you’ll see windows framed in chrome rather than the subtle gloss black on the regular EQS SUV. The bigger talking point, though, is the wheels. The 21-inch, seven-spoke forged rollers make a heck of an impression, but if you need even more, 22-inchers will also be available.
All that’s wrapped in one of five two-tone paint schemes: silver/black, silver/blue, black/gray, black/gold, and brown/black. That last combo is what you see pictured here, a stately pairing that wouldn’t be my first choice. Or my second, if I’m honest. I was able to see the silver/blue combo, though, and that was much more my style.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
So too the white/silver Nappa leather interior that is a Manufaktur Exclusive option. The more standard interiors, however, will offer various shades of brown and copper.
Regardless of color, that rear seat is every bit as comfortable as it looks in these photos, with the little lumbar support pillow and the under-filled headrest padding that immediately makes me start thinking about nap time.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz says all the leather in here — and there is a lot of it — is vegetable tanned for the first time using waste products like coffee bean shells. This process is said to be far better for the environment than traditional tanning, but one figures it’s still not a pleasant experience for the cows. Sadly, the cactus leather and vegan silk used in the EQXX will not become a reality here.
That grille up front is echoed as pinstriping in much of the interior woodwork, a luxurious cocoon that shares the same basic dimensions as the EQS SUV but is more comprehensively sealed off from the environment thanks to a sort of bulkhead behind the rear seats, which are of course massaging and heated and cooled. They’re also situated next to an integrated champagne cooler with a pair of bespoke chrome flutes.
There’s similar levels of opulence (though thankfully less booze) available to the driver, but anyone sitting front-left will most enjoy the 649 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque. The Maybach borrows the revised powertrain and battery pack from the Mercedes-AMG EQS sedan, which means a sprint to 60 in just 4.1 seconds and an estimated range of 600 kilometers on the European WLTP cycle. That’s 373 miles in our money, but the Maybach EQS SUV will likely rate closer to 300 miles on the tougher EPA range cycle.
Mercedes hasn’t yet announced pricing on the Maybach EQS SUV, and while the ol’ “if you have to ask” cliche will most certainly apply here, just for curiosity’s sake, the 2022 Mercedes-Maybach S 680 4Matic sedan starts at $229,000. Expect the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV to cost, you know, more.
