Benz is Getting Busy: Outlining the Next Year of S-class Debuts

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG 4MATIC should be joined by the S65 AMG come November.


Based on what our sources in Stuttgart are telling us, Mercedes-Benz wants its new S-class to be all things to all (relatively affluent) people. We’ve already driven the new S550 and the latest S63 has been revealed ahead of its arrival on showroom floors early next year, but the three-pointed star has a handful of fuel-conscious and fire-breathing S-classes in store for this coming auto-show season.

If you’re in the crowd concerned with consumption, we encourage you to recall four years ago, when Mercedes showed off its Vision S500 plug-in hybrid concept. Making use of a 3.5-liter V-6 and a 60-hp electric motor, the Vision S500 was good for 18 miles of electric range and a 0–60 time of 5.4 seconds. Mercedes has confirmed that this model will head to production, and we’re told to expect it at the Frankfurt auto show in September before going on sale in early 2015. Final powertrain details have yet to be confirmed, but we’d expect the production-spec S500 to stay relatively close to the show car’s specifications.

• Feature: Dissected—2014 Mercedes-Benz S-class
• Instrumented Test: 2013 BMW 760Li
• Instrumented Test: 2013 Audi S8

For those who like their full-size luxury sedans to knock their lederhosen off, the next few months will prove to be entertaining. Our sources have told us to expect the all-conquering S65 AMG to bow at the Los Angeles auto show in November. The current car’s 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12 is tuned to produce 621 horsepower capable of hauling the 5000-pound sedan to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds. We’d expect a slight bump in output, a curb weight some 200 pounds less than its predecessor, and a sub-four-second 0-to-60 time. Six weeks later in Detroit, look for the standard V-12–powered S600 to make its debut.



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