The Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury SUV Is So Ugly It Actually Hurts

TopSpeed

By Jonathan Lopez

Published Apr 20, 2018

Avert your eyes if you don’t have a strong constitution

We’ve seen some pretty slick-looking concepts from Mercedes-Maybach in the past - the Vision 6 and Vision 6 Cabriolet certainly come to mind quite easily. However, this latest creation, dubbed the Ultimate Luxury concept and leaked prior to a full debut at the Beijing Motor Show, is making our collective stomachs churn.

Continue reading for the full story.

The Full Story

Before we do anything else, let’s just take a second to behold the sheer ugliness that is the Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury. Yeah, it’s just a concept, but seriously, what the hell were they thinking? Nothing about this vehicle makes sense. It’s like a jacked-up sedan on stilts, with oversized wheels and all the wrong proportions.

The front end is too tall, with the vertical slats in the grille adding to the problem. The lower trim sections feel like an afterthought, continuing on into the flanks along the lower edge of the car, adding extra size that enhances the overblown stance.

The profile in particular looks awful. The three-box aesthetic is in full effect, but good God, it’s a clashing mess with the rest of it. Chrome bits and polished trim are added throughout, but it just looks tacky on something like this.

The Ultimate Luxury concept is about as elegant as an elephant walking on railroad tracks - you just gotta wonder when it’s gonna fall over.

“If I had a kid that ugly I’d give it up for adoption,” said one TopSpeed staff member.

“That looks like a six-figure sex toy,” said another critic here in the office.

While it might be ugly as sin, at least the Ultimate Luxury should be decently fast - you know, so it’ll drive out of your sightline that much quicker.

Total output comes to 750 horsepower, as laid down by four electric motors spread out in an AWD arrangement. It’s all-electric too, so at least it isn’t sucking up any of that precious dino juice. The battery is mounted under the floor and gets a 80-kWh capacity, providing over 200 miles of range. Top speed clocks in at 250 km/h (155 mph).

Keeping it topped off is a DC fast charging system, which provides upwards of 60 miles in about 5 minutes. It also comes with inductive charging capability if you can’t be bothered to plug it in - or if searching for the charge point along the body leaves you feeling nauseous.

It’s also worth mentioning that this big red abortion is based on the same platform as the Mercedes GLS-Class, so yeah, it really is just a car plopped on a SUV chassis.

Inside, things look a little better, with white leather upholstery, tons of wood paneling along the doors, and a full set of digital gauges behind the flat-bottom, chromed-out steering wheel. There’s also a tea set for rear-seated passengers if you’re into that kind of thing.

Still, the tackiness is real. We can’t help but feel like this is some kind of Fisher-Price My First Luxury Car product designed for easy wipe down.

What do you guys think about this monstrosity? Let us know in the comments section below!