The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S Class has been launched in India today. The new S Class was globally revealed in May last year, while sales of the luxury sedan in Europe, China and USA commenced soon after.
Initially, Mercedes India will only retail the long wheelbase S500 petrol variant of the new S Class. While the previous S Class was locally assembled in Mercedes's Indian facility located in Chakan, Pune, the S500 will be fully imported into the country from Sindelfingen, Germany.
The S500 long wheelbase measures 5,246 mm in length, 1,494 mm in height, 1,899 mm in width and comes with a 3,165 mm wheelbase. It tips the scales at 2,200 kg.
Power for the S500 comes from a 4.7-liter Twin-Turbo V8 engine which produces 453 bhp and 700 Nm of torque. India does not get the 4MATIC all-wheel drive version and hence drive is sent to the rear wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The new S500 does the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.8 seconds, while the top-speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h.
The S Class S500 is priced at INR 1.57 crores (ex-Showroom, New Delhi). Mercedes India will launch the diesel S Class later this year, and about the same time, local production of the luxury sedan would have also commenced at the Chakan plant.
Stay tuned for a detailed image gallery and a comparison chart of the S Class.
