when you have a press release coming from Mercedes that is as long as 16 pages on Microsoft Word (give and take a page or two due to formatting), you know these guys are pretty damn serious about putting the goodness of the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Luxury Sedan across to you. however, we shall spare you the agony of going through the super lengthy PR text and extract the essence of the story, along with some awesome images for you here. the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is the world first car to be lighted up entirely with LEDs – nearly 500 LEDs were used spanning the exterior to the interior to the boot. the headlamps alone uses up to 56 of them, while the tail lamps has up to 35 and the cabin’s main lighting and ambient lighting uses a whopping 300 or so LEDs. cosmetically, the new S-Class sports a larger radiator grille (we can’t really tell, can you?) with an upright and distinctly three-dimensional design.
designed with the Asian market and its chauffeured driven usage in mind, the long-wheelbase S-Class formed the base of the design, instead of the other way round where short-wheelbase model usually is the base of the long wheelbase counterpart. despite it being a luxury sedan, a few design cues point towards its “sporty-inclination” such as a stretched bonnet, a flowing domed roof line that ends with a gently sloping rear end, and pronounced shoulder above the rear wheel that gives this luxury ride an athletic stance. on the drive safety aspect, a stereo camera and multistage radar sensors are incorporated, giving the ride a 360-degree all-round vision, thereby better equipping it to detect potential dangers on the road. the initial line up comprises of two hybrids (the S 400 Hybrid and S 300 BlueTEC Hybrid), a petrol model (S 500), and a diesel variant (S 350 BlueTEC). the most powerful model is naturally the S 500. its 4 .7-liter V8 unit readily pumps out 455 hp (335 kW) and a massive 700 Nm of torque (about 516 lb-ft), which afford luxury beast to launch from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.8 seconds and maxing out at 250 km/h (155 mph).
other features include an aluminum hybrid body shell, Adaptive Damping System Plus, enhanced full air suspension system known as AIRMATIC, generous use of wood trim and metallized switch surfaces in the cabin, an increase in rear knee room for rear passengers, two high-resolution 12″ TFT color displays: one as its instrument cluster and the other for infotainment us, heated armrests, a business center console (featuring telephone handset, additional stowage compartments, folding table etc), five different rear seat variants to choose from, ten-speaker audio system with Frontbass system, and adaptive highbeam assist plus and night view assist plus. slated to be available later part of the year in the European market, the prices for the new S-Class start at €79,789.50 (around US$103,000) for the short-wheelbase S 350 BlueTEC and runs up to €107,645.50 (about US$139,000) for the S 500 long wheelbase model.
