Mercedes-AMG S 65 Final Edition revealed

Will there be a place in the all-new S-Class for a twin turbo V12 when it will be headlined by a battery-electric powertrain?

The answer is almost certainly “yes”, but Mercedes-AMG will farewell the S 65 AMG limousine – the most expensive Mercedes-Benz this side of a Maybach – with a Final Edition version.

There’s no word on how many, if any, of the 130 Final Editions are heading to Australia, but the standard version (a mockery, because nobody at this level buys one of these things without heavy tickery on the options list) was $490,000 when it landed in early 2015.

The old-school V12 has spent almost two decades lagging behind the contemporary technology of AMG’s V8 motors, but a dedicated band of followers won’t let the big banger die.

For the S 65 Final Edition, the 6.0-litre V12 will run to 463kW of power and 1000Nm of torque, with the twist arriving at 2300rpm and staying until 4300rpm.

That’s going to be worth the cost because the standard S 65 engine only puts out, ummm, 463kW of power and 1000Nm of torque.

The fuel consumption won’t be any different either, still swallowing a combined NEDC figure of 14.2 litres/100km and emitting 325 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

While Mercedes-AMG hasn’t put out acceleration data, it’s safe to expect the Final Edition will hit 100km/h in the same 4.3 seconds as the standard version.

Oddly, it also claims it will have a limited 300km/h top speed which is odd, because the stock car has a 250km/h limiter but can be uprated to 305km/h.

Instead of extra urgency being punched through the same seven-speed automatic transmission, the S 65 Final Edition will push ahead with styling and equipment features.

It will score a unique high-gloss black paint scheme, it will have its own 20-inch alloy wheels, the air inlet grilles will be a unique matte bronze colour and it scores an AMG badge on the C-pillar.

But the glory hunting is mostly inside, with black leather trim and contrasting copper-coloured stitching and carbon-fibre with copper-coloured threads. With this colour combination, Mercedes-AMG must have been mortified to hear about the Audi R8 Decennium...

Again, like Audi did to much criticism with its R8 V10 RWS, the Final Edition cars won’t be sequentially numbered, but they will all have a “1 of 130” badge on the centre console.

Each seat uses 12 – yes, 12 – electric motors to adjust into position, while the First Class-style rear seat suite has two individual seats that extend out as legrests. Even the front passenger seat has an extendable legrest and all the cupholders are temperature controlled.

The panoramic roof has Magic Sky Control to electronically dim at the flick of a switch from clear to a very deep blue that looks almost solid.

It even comes with a tailor-made dust cover with AMG S 65 Final Edition emblazoned on it.