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Mercedes S-Class Gets Trimmed in Real Gold by Carlsson

Here at autoevolution, we like to use and abuse the “opulence, I has it” catchphrase as much as humanly possible, but even we have to admit it’s never worked as well as it’s going to today. You see, that phrase comes from a commercial about a Russian oligarch who has a gold statue of himself and a very rare tiny giraffe and if he drove a car, it would probably be this one.
Mercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by Carlsson 12 photos
Photo: Carlsson
Mercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by CarlssonMercedes S-Class Versailles Edition by Carlsson
German tuning company Carlsson has targeted the new Mercedes S-Class before, tailoring it to their specific tastes during last year’s Essen Motor Show. Going one-up on that required lateral thinking, and so they decided to take inspiration from French king Louis the 14th (XIV), also known as the Sun King. He had an obsession with opulence and the display of wealth, being famous for moving his court to the Versailles palace from the Louvre, it rooms filled with gold plated furniture.

Getting back to Carlsson an their tuning project, it’s called the CS50 Versailles Edition and has been covered in gold using thousands of leaf sheets and about 300 man hours of painstaking work. The German company says this has been done for “China’s ultra-wealthy ‘Taipan’ clients; the new ‘royalty’ of the Middle Kingdom".

They plan to make a total of 25 limited edition, gold-plated Mercedes limos and say 10 people have already ordered theirs, paying up to €395,000 / $545,000.

Just to prove there’s reason behind the madness, let us just tell you the Carlsson has already put two amazing tuning kits for the new S-Class last year. One is for the S500’s 4.7-liter twin-turbo V8 and takes it to 610 hp and 900 Nm (663 lb-ft) of torque, the other for the S 63 AMG, pushing it to a monstrous 780 hp and 1,060 Nm of torque.

To conclude, we don’t think the Chinese are buying French palaces on wheels. They’re buying German battleships plated in gold.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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