Mercedes has discontinued to the S500 variant from the S-Class line up in India. It has been replaced by the new S400 priced at Rs 1.28 Crore (Ex-showroom, Delhi) as the new entry-level petrol trim. For those looking to buy the V8, it is still available with the Maybach S500 Maybach variant.
The S-Class was introduced in India with the S500 trim – it uses the V8 4663cc engine mated to seven-speed automatic S tronic transmission that generates 459bhp of power at 5250rpm and 700Nm of torque at 1800rpm. The new version S400 has a smaller 2,996cc V6 engine that generates 330bhp at 5250 - 6000rpm and torque output of 480Nm at 1600-4000rpm, but also costs considerably lesser than than S500.
Mercedes continues to sell the S500 trim, but now only with the Maybach badge. As far as we assume, the move will help Mercedes draw customer attention towards the S500-Maybach which is offered at an additional cost of about Rs 10-15 lakh over the regular S500.
In terms of dimensions, the Maybach S500 is longer at 5453mm as against 5246mm length of the S500, while the wheelbase measures 3365mm as against 3165mm for the S500. The Maybach also gets slightly extra height of 1498mm as against the 1494mm height of the S500.
Though the Maybach and the S500 have minimal differences in terms of features, the Maybach further enhaces the owner's persona.
