Mercedes Reveals New Off-Reading Maybach Special
Project MAYBACH is a wild new luxurious off-road electric vehicle concept from Mercedes-Benz.
The car was designed in collaboration with the late American fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who inspired it.
Last weekend, Abloh, artistic director at Louis Vuitton, sadly passed away. Mercedes-Benz says he worked with Daimler Chief Designer Gorden Wagener on the new concept car, and the firm is showcasing it in his honor at the Rubell Museum:
“On 1 December 2021, in lieu of an intimate press event, Mercedes-Benz pays tribute to Virgil Abloh by opening the doors of the Rubell Museum to showcase Project MAYBACH to the public between December 1st – December 2nd, with access offered exclusively to students from local design schools from 11:30am to 12:30pm on December 1st. A humble contribution to Virgil’s vast legacy, the Mercedes-Maybach show car exemplifies the possibilities of future design and is the result of an on-going co-operation with the polymath artist, architect, creative director, fashion designer and philanthropist; driven by a shared passion to enrich the conversation around luxury design.”
It’s a very unusual vehicle with a lot of luxury that we typically expect to find in Maybach cars, but it’s also tough and prepared for off-road excursions.
Mercedes-Benz explained about the concept:
“A design unlike anything that has been developed by Mercedes-Benz, every element of Project MAYBACH has been built from scratch. Abloh, collaboratively with Gorden Wagener, has interpreted Mercedes-Maybach’s luxury identity with a new design language and pushed the boundaries of function, style, and collaborative creativity. Inspired by the great outdoors and recontextualizing a traditionally urban brand within a distinctly off-road environment, the 2-seater, battery-electric off-road coupé combines huge Gran Turismo proportions, large off-road wheels and distinctive attachments.”
It’s one-of-a-kind in the sense that it will almost certainly never enter production, yet it does provide design ideas to consider.
