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Live Pics: Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV Concept Is All-Electric Decadence at IAA 2021

Maybach failed spectacularly due to little differentiation over the Sonderklasse. The Daimler AG-owned automaker is venturing into the ultra-luxury segment once again with Mercedes-Maybach, and the Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV Concept seems like a flop in the making.
Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV Concept live photo at IAA 2021 14 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
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There’s no mistaking that well-to-do people want a plushy electric vehicle, but even well-to-do people have a few standards in terms of exterior design. For the few exceptions that inevitably exist, the Maybach-branded EQS SUV will certainly appeal to them because it’s garish and pointless.

Design is obviously subjective, but what kind of person would glance over this concept and think: “Yes! I don’t want the all-electric Bentley or Rolls because this is the more tasteful utility vehicle.” I certainly wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t pick the Maybach EQS SUV for its WLTP driving range either.

Based on the EVA2 platform of the EQS, this atrocity isn’t slippery or light enough to match the WLTP-rated figures of the full-size electric sedan. To whom it may concern, the peeps at Mercedes quote 770 kilometers (478 miles) even though a Tesla Model S Long Range makes do with 652 kilometers (405 miles). If the owner of the Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV prefers to be chauffeured from point A to point B exclusively in the urban jungle, then I agree that the sick-inducing concept can barely redeem itself.

Expected to arrive in showrooms in late 2023, one year after the Mercedes-only EQS SUV, the Maybach seats up to four people although it’s competing against full-size leviathans with three-row seating. Speaking of which, both Cadillac and Lincoln will electrify the Escalade and Navigator.

Pictured on 24-inch alloys with the outdated Maybach bowl motif, the pre-production design study features an “exclusive two-tone finish and subtly positioned brand emblems.” If bi-color paintwork is considered exclusive and countless Maybach emblems in the headlights and on the body panels are considered subtle by Mercedes’ PR department, it’s easy to imagine what kind of customers the Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV is targeting.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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