Benz S-Class Pullman and Cabrio this year

Mercedes-Benz has confirmed it will launch Maybach Pullman and Cabriolet versions of its S-Class flagship this year, but says even more model derivatives will follow.

This week's launch of the X222 Mercedes-Maybach S 500 and S 600 super-luxury limousines brings the number of S-Class body variants to four, following the W222 short-wheelbase sedan, W222 long-wheelbase sedan and C217 coupe.

While the first Maybach-badged S-Class is more than 200mm longer than the LWB at 5453mm long, the stretched Pullman limo will ramp up the luxury even further, aimed directly at Rolls-Royce to attract world leaders and pop stars when it emerges before mid-year.

Pictured here in spy shots, the Pullman features six doors and rides on a substantially longer wheelbase housing three rows of seats including rear-facing centre seats and an opulent interior designed with the help of German specialist Brabus.

"This year will see us embark on two new chapters in our luxury car strategy," said S-Class Product Management Director Martin Hulder.

"One of them has already been shot by a number of prototype hunters and has dimensions that make any form of camouflage seem like a nice try. The new Mercedes-Maybach Pullman is aimed at governments and the very pinnacle of society.

"We will present this incredibly stately and prestigious limousine in the course of the first half of this year. If you ask me, this car is the perfect embodiment of the great tradition of state limousines in the spirit of the 300 and 600."

Without naming it, Mulder also confirmed Mercedes will reveal its first S-Class Cabriolet, which has also been spied in testing in the second half of this year.

"And we will present another particularly attractive S-Class model in the second half of the year. This much I'll tell you: If you're a fan of the stars, you'll have a particularly good view from this car."

The four-seat S-Class Cabriolet will be an additional model for Benz, positioned alongside the two-seat SL-Class roadster and powered by the same V8 and V12 engines.

The massive S-Class range expansion, which we first reported in 2013, aims at the increasing number of "ultra rich" people, especially in countries like China, Russia and the Middle East.

Mercedes expects the number of super-wealthy people will grow from around 211,275 sharing total assets of $US30 trillion in 2014 to 250,000 people with a value of $US40 trillion within the next five years.

It says the global automotive market will grow by 2.4 per cent over the decade and the luxury segment, which comprises 10 per cent, to expand even faster.

"We are already there, where others want to be," said Hulder.

After launching the new W222 in 2013, Mercedes sold more than 100,000 S-Class models last year, making it the most popular S-Class ever and easily outselling the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Jaguar XJ and Lexus LS globally and in all major markets, plus Australia.

A range of short- and long-wheelbase and AMG models have been available here since November 2013, where the S 63 AMG Coupe launches next month and the Mercedes-Maybach S 600 goes on sale late this year, priced at around $600,000.

Mercedes-Benz will import at least one example of the Pullman next year, when the S-Class Cabriolet also arrives in numbers.

However, Hulder left the door open for even more S-Class body styles beyond the six now confirmed – not counting engine or equipment variants, or armoured Guard versions of the sedans.

"With the Mercedes-Maybach already presented, and the forthcoming Pullman, plus plans for the second half of this year, we have expanded our S-Class line-up to six models so far: S-Class with short wheelbase, S-Class with long wheelbase, S-Class Coupe, S-Class Mercedes-Maybach, Pullman and 'star-gazer'."

S-Class product marketing manager Lutz Regelmann provided hints as to the direction further expansion might head.

"We definitely have a few more ideas [for the S-Class model family]" he told motoring.com.au.

"I have seen at least two more concepts, but my personal recommendation is to digest the six we've got and concentrate on the core S-Class products.

"Six is a lot and we also have to renew them over the life cycle. We've created so many segments, I'm not sure you can keep doing that."

Regelmann confirmed the S-Class Cabriolet will be a traditional four-seat convertible with two doors, and said there was no future in the four-door soft-top body style concept seen on the 2007 Ocean Drive show car.

But he would not rule out the possibility of a big, sleek two-door wagon version of the S-Class, similar in execution to the Shooting Brake Fascination Concept that previewed the CLS Shooting Brake in 2008.

Regelmann said an S-Class Shooting Brake – with two doors or four – would be a logical extension of the CLA and CLS Shooting Brake (and C- and E-Class Estate) family, but said wagons remained popular only in Europe.

"Shooting Brake is a topic we have to explore further, but it's a concept that's not quite there in some markets."

Although the upcoming facelift for Mercedes' big GL-Class SUV, to be renamed the GLS, will share only its name with the S-Class, its successor will form the basis of the first Mercedes-Maybach SUV.

It will also spawn the largest Mercedes 'SUV Coupe', the GLS Coupe, which will share many components from the S-Class.

Mercedes-Benz has already started working on its next-generation sedan flagship, which Regelmann said will borrow many technologies – but not the plug-in hydrogen fuel cell powertrain or mono-cell body shape – from the autonomous F015 concept.