An electric Benz to win the potentially chauffeured affections of landed gentry and oligarchs has landed.

WHY settle for luxury electric when you can buy into ‘super luxury’, potentially for enough of a saving to splash out on a weekend at a luxury resort?

The choice between buying the best from Benz in a battery-pure format becomes interesting, now there’s an in-house option to the Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 sedan.

Ostensibly, the new box-tick is better; while the allure of AMG and its extra bang is pretty intense, if you’re out to sit pretty then the other sub-genre is an obvious ideal. 

Since its resurrection just over a decade ago, Maybach - sorry, Mercedes-Maybach (an important differentiation explained further down) - has become the epitome of extra bling behind the star badge.

Now it’s here, with the Mercedes-Maybach 680 (above), also based on the EQS and sharing the same platform and powertrain as the AMG 53 (below), but eschewing the latter’s sedan shell to utilising the sports utility setting - which in standard trim is cheaper than the sedan - presumably to fully effect impression of the latter having higher standing.

About that: Both patently aim at biggest spenders. Assuming that value is even a consideration, the bigger looks better … as it’s a bit cheaper. 

When last tested two years ago, that top dog sedan was a $310,900 opportunity whereas the Maybach 680, with the very same 484kW/950Nm dual motor drivetrain, has joined as an order-only option for $304,500. 

Save $6400 and live like a king? 

Sort of. The advertised price for the 680 is actually a base spend. It buys a very attractive car. But for absolutely full-out opulence? That costs extra.  

Anyone wanting to be a special someone will likely want to tick off boxes for a First Class Rear Suite package that is available for an additional $14,900. 

This adds plush rear armchairs, a heated centre console, temperature-controlled cupholders, and even a refrigerated compartment with champagne flute holders. When they’re tired of looking out at the ordinary world, rear seat occupants can also divert attention to a pair of 11.6-inch displays.

Another step toward impressing cash is no challenge is to take the car as a Night Series Edition, as pictured today, which includes dark chrome elements and unique design accents. That adds … ah right, $34,900.

The type’s two permanently excited synchronous e-motors enable all-wheel-drive and decent pace; the SUV isn’t quite as fast as the AMG sedan - and neither should it be - but 0-100km still avails in just 4.4 seconds; that’s more push than a private jet at take-off. Top speed of 210kmh is promised. 

What might be of greater interest in a NZ scenario is that it can deliver, in optimal circumstance, a driving range of 662km. Latch into a hyper charger and it will be delayed least come replenishment time, as it supports up to 200kW uptake. This capability allows the battery to be recharged from 10 to 80 percent in approximately 31 minutes.

If the AMG 53 is tailored for driving, much about the Maybach is more about being driven.

Standard features include executive rear seats equipped with ventilation, massage functions, neck and shoulder heating, and a calf massage. There’s a Chauffeur Package that further enhances comfort by automatically adjusting the front passenger seat when the rear seat is reclined.

Requirement for it to reflect as the best of technological sophistication is obvious. The car has the complete MBUX Hyperscreen experience. This spans the width of the dashboard, incorporating three high-resolution digital screens under a single layer of Perspex.

Mercedes says its system allows up to 80 per cent of common interactions to be performed without changing applications, thanks to its 'zero-layer' technology.

Adaptive ambient lighting is a special treat; this includes 253 individually controllable LEDs. The Burmester 4D surround sound system with Dolby Atmos is the best of its kind. Electric cars are supremely quiet and this one attracts additional sound-proofing so you can be sure of an immersive audio experience with 15 speakers and additional exciters in each seat.

Externally, the EQS 680 SUV features exclusive design elements. Note that the Mercedes star on the bonnet is upright rather than embossed into the metal. The frontage is an imposing black front panel with chrome-plated strips. The vehicle’s side profile is accentuated by bold chrome trim elements and those light alloy wheels are not only super-large at 22 inches but also embossed.

As ostentatious as it is, it obviously lends more than an idle wave to the environment. 

The whole point of being electric sends a strong eco credential, even if the car’s vast weight a little less so. But if assailed by the Green-minded, the owner can assure the cabin uses vegetable-tanned leather and the car has not only been created by using sustainable manufacturing processes, but also uses recycled materials, notably with the lush carpet. The inclusion of secondary steel and recycled aluminium further highlight the make’s dedication to the good cause.

One challenge might be to impress that Maybach is as valid a choice as a truly upper echelon marque as, say Rolls-Royce, which has its own electric car here now, in shape of the even pricier Sceptre, and perhaps Bentley.

Both those marques were in mind when Maybach came into being - which has happened three times.

The first birth as in 1909. The brand was originally established by Wilhelm Maybach, one of Gottlieb Daimler’s earliest collaborators.

In addition to designing engines for Zeppelin airships and aircraft, Maybach also attached its name to a line of cars aimed at the aristocracy, an effort that lasted until the end of World War II. Thereafter the name went dormant; though it had really become a challenge from the 1930s having been one of those German brands that ultimately fell in with the wrong crowd on home turf.

It stayed on the shelf until the mid-1990s. Then the link between Maybach and Mercedes-Benz was rediscovered, polished and pronounced “good enough” to launch an entirely new line of luxury cars. A concept presented at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1997 preceded a pair of sedans, the Maybach 52 and the Maybach 62, that arrived in 2002. Most distinctive aspects were their appearance and their price; critics marked them as representing an ostentatiously anonymous way to spend upwards of half a million dollars.

The brand struggled. Production peaked at 600 examples in 2002, a time when both Bentley and Rolls posted record years. So Maybach disappeared again.

What we see now is the third re-introduction, but as Merceds-Maybach, presenting from 2014 a family of four-doors that have drawn off the S-Class and GLS, thus avoiding massive development costs. The most overt have been the stretched Pullman models that joined S500, S550 and S600 Maybachs, each stepping above the already opulent S-Class. Whether the EQS programme will also stretch that way has yet to be made clear.