Benjamin M. Monroe Blog: Mercedes-Maybach shows off its own luxury SUV

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Mercedes-Maybach shows off its own luxury SUV

There are many new SUVs from automakers that wouldn’t traditionally make something with the word “utility” in its name. Rolls Royce is coming out with the Cullinan, Lamborghini has the Urus, Bentley has the Bentayga and even brands like Aston Martin and Ferrari are thinking about their SUVs. To keep up, Mercedes-Maybach has just launched its own concept SUV, called the Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury. And it’s, umm…well it looks like…sheesh, it doesn’t look good.

Personally, I typically like Mercedes-Maybach products. There’s a whiff of snobbery that’s almost humerus about them. Not this thing, though. It’s flat out hideous. So much so that I’m starting to think this is a prank (am I being Punk’d or something?). The front end doesn’t look terrible when looked at head-on. It’s still not great from there but it’s not awful. At every other angle, though, it’s just bad.

From the rear three-quarters angle, it looks absolutely awful. Its overall shape looks like something a five-year old would draw with crayon when asked to draw a car. It has the same door pulls from a Tesla and its front fender vent looks like its been pulled from a Lincoln. And the rear? Don’t even get me started. The split window idea is cool but it’s been butchered here. Those taillights look like they could be interesting but aren’t executed well enough and what’s with the faux vents at the back? If Mercedes-Maybach wants it to look sporty, why put fake ones? And why would a car with the badge “Ultimate Luxury” on the back have 1) sporty vents and 2) fake anything? It just might be the sloppiest, worst-looking luxury car concept I’ve ever seen. And it’s a shame because Mercedes-Maybach can make some very pretty cars, such as the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, which is a great looking car.

Thankfully, it actually has a cool interior. It’s very typical of a concept luxury SUV, with white leather everywhere, immense amounts of wood and a ton of ambient lighting. The bits of brass trim look really good and the little tea set in the back seat is a nice touch. Being that this is concept is longer and wider than a Range Rover, occupants will have ample room.

Mercedes-Maybach is good at designing luxury concepts, as the aforementioned “6” proves. However, this is not one of them. We hope that when it comes time to actually build this hulking SUV, they change it up quite a bit.