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2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600 Review [w/video]

"Hindsight is 20/20" is a handy yet disingenuous cliche. The flaw is that hindsight is only instructive up to the moment you would have made a different, perhaps better, decision. At the moment of that deviation the past goes in another direction, one that you can't peer back into because you didn't experience it. So when we say we wish Karl Benz's eponymous firm had produced the Mercedes-Maybach S600 in 2002 instead of the gilded blunder of the separate Maybach brand and its 57 and 62 sedans, we just can't know if the formula would have worked 13 years ago. But we do know the formula adds up superbly right now. A little history: Wilhelm Maybach helped Gottlieb Daimler build a high-speed, four-stroke internal combustion engine in 1885. Eventually Maybach went to work for Daimler's new car company and designed the first Mercedes, the 1901 35-hp model considered the world's first modern car. Maybach left the company after Daimler's death, started a company building zeppelins, then joined his son to start the Maybach car company. Together they developed super luxury cars including the DS8 Zeppelin models that competed with Rolls-Royce. A reviewer in 1933 wrote, "The Maybach Zeppelin models rank among the few cars in the international top class. They are highly luxurious, extremely lavish in their engineering and attainable only for a chosen few." It's a whopping 28 inches shorter than the departed Maybach 62, but 8.2 inches longer than a standard S-Class. As is this Maybach S600. It's a whopping 28 inches shorter than the departed Maybach 62, but since it's 8.2 inches longer than a standard S-Class, there's a very different driving experience. Two-thirds of a foot isn't much, but the Maybach is 639 pounds heavier than an S550, or 231 pounds heavier than a standard S600. From the driver's seat we could feel every additional pound and inch over those other models. It is as if Mercedes threw out the aluminum and steel and chiseled this sedan from basalt. We've driven scanty few cars where we've been genuinely glad for blind-spot detection and 360-degree cameras – this is one of them. The Maybach's wheelbase is four inches longer than that of a Bentley Mulsanne, even though the overall car is almost five inches shorter than the Big B. That long wheelbase translates into tranquil steering response – the S550, S600, and Maybach S600 all have the same 2.3 turns-to-lock, but this sedan feels like it takes more effort. It even looks heavy.

Recharge Wrap-up: Venturi seeks funding for speed record, Kia partners on V2G

Venturi Automobiles has started a crowdfunding campaign to help break an EV speed record. Venturi's goal, with the help of The Ohio State University, is to set a new FIA World Speed Record for Battery Powered Electric Vehicles of over 7000 pounds with its VBB-3. Venturi set the current record at 307 miles per hour, but wants to exceed that this September at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Funders can score merchandise like T-shirts, miniature models, and even their name on the side of the car. Learn more at Venturi Automobiles' Kickstarter page. Kia is providing six Soul EVs to UC Irvine's Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP). APEP is using the electric vehicles for the development of vehicle-to-grid technology and smart charging systems. Kia says the collaboration is helpful in its goals of expanding EVs over the next five years. "Grid-connected electric vehicles offer tremendous potential in terms of energy storage and dispersion during high-demand periods," says Kia VP of Product Planning Orth Hedrick, "and Kia is excited to collaborate with APEP in the study and development of advanced smart grid technologies." Read more from Kia, or at Green Car Congress. Daimler is launching its Mercedes-Benz Energy brand for stationary energy storage. Taking on the likes of Tesla with its Powerwall, Daimler began shipping battery packs for residential energy storage in Germany in April, with an eye toward solar systems. Now, with its new brand, the company looks to expand to the global market. "By founding Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH, we are underscoring our ambition to be a technological and market leader in the field of highly efficient storage systems," says Daimler's Harald Kroger. "With our unique combination of high standards of quality and safety and positive economies of scale, we are supporting the success of the new energy era while helping to make electromobility affordable." Read more in the press release below. Daimler Establishes Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH for Stationary Energy Storage Daimler AG is continuing to expand its network of expertise in the field of lithium-ion battery applications. Within this innovative line of business, the newly established Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH is assuming the development and global sale of Mercedes-Benz brand stationary energy storage with immediate effect. Thus, Daimler is focusing even more on the growing market for stationary batteries.

Maybach and Aston Martin alliance talks fall apart

If you have, like us, been salivating at the notion of a new generation of Maybach and Lagonda ultra-luxury crafts built by Aston Martin, we've got some bad news: According to reports emanating from Germany, talks between AML and Daimler have broken down.
The proposal under negotiation would have seen Daimler outsourcing production of the next family of Maybach models to Aston Martin, which in return would benefit from Mercedes-Benz platforms and engines - not only for its svelte GTs, but also for its own future Lagonda line of limousines and luxury SUVs. That, and a boatload of money - or at least that's what AML was reportedly seeking, an issue that served as the stumbling block over which the deal reportedly collapsed.
That's not to say the two parties couldn't still reach some sort of a compromise, but short of that, Daimler may opt to either shut down Maybach altogether, find another partner, or take another stab at building new models internally.