The subscription model has taken over the world in recent years. If the subscription model had not become so common for various services, I would find it weird to be paying for a Bisleri water monthly subscription, but here we are! Well if OTT, Newspapers, YouTube Premium, and many more were not enough ways for you to spend on subscriptions, Mercedes will now be asking users to pay an annual fee in order to allow the auto giant’s electric vehicles to accelerate faster!
Mercedes Annual Fee
BBC was the first publication to report that Mercedes will be charging its users a sum of $1200 which is shy of a lakh rupees every year for its cars to be faster. So will this annual fee magically make your electric merc accelerate super fast? No. The fee reportedly only allows users to reduce the time required to go from 0 to 60 mph by a second. That’s right, just one second!
This won’t be the first time a car manufacturer has introduced a subscription service. It was earlier this year when BMW launched a subscription fee for heated seats. However, the launch date of this subscription model by Mercedes has not yet been revealed. Toyota had also announced a while back that it would charge consumers $8 per month to enable the remote start feature in their cars.
Imagine buying a product at a full premium price and having to pay an additional fee to get the best out of it. As someone who is not an auto fanatic, I cannot make sense of this subscription model. However, fans on the internet have certainly been vocal about this decision by Mercedes stating that they would much rather receive a finished product than have to pay subscriptions for everything!
Life has to progress towards grandeur, from essentials to extraordinary; our possessions define our journey. Technology only improves with time, while luxury defies time, like the Mercedes Maybach, which is the epitome of luxury. While the G2 65” 4K Smart OLED evo TV is a sleek luxury piece-of-art addition to your pads with an infinite contrast ratio, powerful α9 Gen5 AI Processor and 4K 120Hz panel with VRR support that enables the best sources technology has on offer today and tomorrow. There is something common between these two which is the OLED tech, and that’s what has triggered us to get these two together.
We tried our best to get to know about both these products and summed up all our experiences for you. The LG OLED TV has a show-stopping silhouette design that blends into your wall, which once seemed impossible. Once you turn on the Gallery Mode to showcase the works of reclaimed artists, your guest will get confused about whether it is a TV or wallpaper as the colours, details, and textures are surreally like the real thing. Believe it or not, it is the slimmest and sleekest TV in the current market. It has one of the best and brightest displays I’ve ever seen, witnessed, and used. The 65-inch TV is priced at 330k in India and arrives with an LGs latest evo panel which offers outstanding picture quality, but you want to know what the best part of having an OLED is?
The iconic TV has minimal borders that are hard to measure and detect. A week back, I was watching a show on the National Geographic channel, and due to the bezel-less display, at one point, I thought I was right there with the forest rangers and wildlife photographers, literally.Now, if you ask me how you define the epitome of luxury? I would say by experiencing it. The Mercedes S-580 Maybach has everything you would practically expect from a luxury sedan, thanks to the rich history it carries. The S-580 Maybach is one of the best cars in the world and oozes opulence from every angle.
The car offers excellent under-thigh support, cushions behind your head with a heating option, and a large 12.8-inch OLED touchscreen, which allows you to control practically all car functions. It resonates with class and derives a sense of aristocracy like no other thing in the world can provide.
While the 65-inch 4K Smart OLED display of the LG TV offers everything, you could ask from a TV. The 4K resolution of the TV is paired with the self-lighting pixels, which gives us incredible infinite contrast and perfect black levels. Thanks to tonnes of format support and AI trickery making, this TV is as desirable as the luxuries on wheels. The picture quality of the TV is simply perfect, just like the rear seat experience of the Maybach S-580. When you’re in the backseat of the Maybach S-580, you are spoilt, and getting out of the seat is going to be a tough challenge. The car’s ambient lighting turns the darkest of nights into an occasion.
The Burmester music system transforms the cabin into your personal grandeur entertainment setup. I love how the speakers dramatically pop in and out each time you pause or resume your music. Watching sports along with your friends or family increases your adrenaline level but to enjoy sports matches in a group setting, you need to have a TV that offers wide viewing angles. The LG G2 TV supports Dolby Vision Gaming 4K at 120Hz with a 0.1ms response time, along with great colours and black levels. The TV is the top choice for gamers as it has features for gamers who want it all, even if they aren’t likely to use it all. The OLED TV offers an outstanding level of immersion, so it’s time to put your games on the big screen. Since the arrival of the Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync™, gaming on TV screens has reached new levels, as with them, the OLED TV can deliver over 120fps at 4K. That’s simply incredible.
The gaming experience on LG TV is so natural that sometimes while playing racing games, I feel like I’m driving in the real world. The gaming session is so effortless that I almost feel like enjoying every comfort my Mercedes offers when I’m on the actual roads. The filmmaker mode of the TV is supposed to preserve the creative intent of the moviemaker by letting you watch your favourite film in its original form, and it does the job really well. The white light output of the OLED is the highest I’ve ever seen from any OLED-based display.
Just like the opulence and epitome of luxury that the Mercedes S-Class Maybach provides, this OLED TV is something you’d definitely want to hang on your wall instead of a Picasso painting. Both these products define the term luxury in their unique ways and are an excellent choice for someone progressing towards grandeur with style and compassion, more like arriving in life.
Mercedes-Benz, the country’s largest luxury carmaker recently broke into the ultra-luxurious SUV segment with the introduction of the first-ever SUV in its Maybach range of vehicles. The pinnacle in refinement and comfort, Mercedes-Maybach represents ‘Ultimate Luxury’ in its most contemporary, purest form. The Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC sets a new benchmark in India’s luxury SUV segment and is unmatched with its exquisite offerings.
Apart from being the first Maybach SUV, the GLS Maybach 600 will only be the second Maybach model rolled out in the Indian market, following the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class.
Launching this ultra-luxury SUV in India, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, commented, “We are excited to introduce the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC to India. The Maybach brand represents the pinnacle of luxury and this SUV will elevate customer experience to an unmatched level. It blends classic old-world charm and supreme comfort with the most cutting-edge technology to redefine the luxury experience on wheels. Luxury motoring with an SUV in India is reimagined with the introduction of the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC. We are now glad to hand over these SUVs to discerning customers who have expressed exceptionally high interest in this fine model that rewrites expectations in the luxury SUV segment.”
“We have witnessed a strong demand for our products as we see the hope and aspiration of our customers remain unbroken. With this positivity, we look at restarting and ramping up our business in phases, in sync with the unlocking of different markets. Our 2021 product strategy remains on track and we expect further uptick in demand, especially for top-end products. The market outlook also remains positive at this point and we continue to stay optimistic. Our customers can expect more product introductions across segments in the coming months.” Mr Schwenk added.
It’s not every day that one gets to climb into an AMG-powered Mercedes-Benz. For the uninitiated, Mercedes-AMG is a special division within the German manufacturer which makes specially tuned versions of standard Mercedes-Benz cars. It goes without saying then that is a recipe for some properly exciting stuff. We recently got our hands on the most affordable AMG money can buy in India to find out just has AMG-ish it is!
Design
As the name suggests, the C 43 gets coupe styling, which makes it look quite distinctive from the sides and rear. From the front, however, one can mistake it for a regular C-Class. However, that perspective changes completely once look at the ride height, which is noticeably lower than the standard car. On the sides, the frameless doors and sloping roofline give the C43 a touch of immense class. When you get to the back though, the four exhaust tips take that look a much meaner setting. From the outside, at any given angle, the C 43 AMG will get eyeballs from almost everyone on the road.
On the inside, Mercedes-Benz has infused their usual touch of brilliance. All the buttons feel tactile and well-engineered and there’s a general sense of controlled madness within the cabin. It starts off with the AMG-spec steering wheel which feels chunky to hold and is beautifully well-contoured. It does feel a little heavy to operate but that only adds to the C 43’s colossal feel. Both the front seats getting a heating option and can be adjusted to one’s specific need.
The air vents are inspired by Mercedes-Benz models of yore and the centre console at a whole feels perfectly compact. The look is finished off at the centre with a classic analogue watch, which again is that touch of elegance from the house of Mercedes-Benz. One downside on the inside is the space at back, which is slightly cramped. The infotainment system gets a large 10.25-inch display screen with Android Auto and Apple Carplay but sadly isn’t a touchscreen. Other than these small niggles, it’s hard to fault the C 43 in terms of design. In fact, it looks quite dynamic without losing out on its understatedness.
Powertrain, Drive & Handling
This where the Mercedes-AMG C 43 really reels you in, or rather, puts you back in your seat. Flooring the throttle isn’t really an option if there isn’t an open stretch of road ahead of you. The C 43 packs a massive punch and one must be prepared to take the impact of acceleration. In terms of numbers, it gets a 3.0-litre, V6 Biturbo which produces 390 hp of power and 520 Nm of torque. This massive engine comes mated to a 9-speed automatic gearbox, called the ‘AMG Speedshift TCT’.
However, we feel that a conventional gearbox mounted in the centre would’ve been a more suitable option, rather than the one mounted behind the steering wheel, like an indicator stock. Furthermore, It has a claimed 0-100 km/hr time of 4.7 seconds and can reach a top speed of 250 km/hr! Those are some impressive figures, given that the C 43 weights a little over two tonnes.
Nevertheless, the C 43 feels solid all around and feels like it can handle itself with an amazing level of panache. Naturally, it comes with five driving modes, namely Individual, Comfort, Sports, Sports + and Slippery. Note – The Slippery mode is wetter conditions and not for drifting about like a mad man, which is what we falsy got excited about at first. That aside, the C 43 delivers on its promise of performance, with aplomb.
Verdict
If you’re out looking for a performance car that puts a smile on your face and makes a definitive statement without compromising on power; the C 43 is certainly worth your consideration.
