Mercedes-Benz has revealed its 2014 S-Class flagship models, vehicles that promise to match – and handily top – the technology, opulence and style of Maybach’s vaunted 57 and 62 sedans. “The best automobile in the world”, is Mercedes’ claim for the car – audacious, but, considering the model’s long and storied history, and the stupendous array of advanced technology in this latest generation, entirely possible.
BBC Autos’ deep dive into Mercedes’ impressive new flagship – the standard-wheelbase W222 model and the long-wheelbase V222 – is forthcoming. In the meantime, an informal S-Class history lesson: admittedly, the “S-Class” moniker debuted in ‘72, with the W116 model series, but the car’s origins predate that by decades, back to the posh Mercedes-Simplex 60hp of 1903, and include such revered machines as the supercharged 770 “Super Mercedes” of the 1930s, the opulent 600 Pullman of the 1960s, and, from 1971, the “Red Pig”, a charismatic, race-winning 300SEL 6.8 AMG.
