Coming Of The Ultracar.(Brief Article)

For downright ostentatiousness, Mercedes's new Maybach 62 is hard to beat. The front and back seats recline to a near-horizontal position-- and the front ones vibrate for a soothing massage. There's a DVD player and three screens, silver drinking goblets and a refrigerator stashed between the rear seats. Push a button on any of the car's three telephone handsets and your "personal liaison manager" at Maybach-- tracking the car's every turn--is instantly on the line. Thinking ahead to the weekend? The manager can take charge of booking tickets to, say, the next Formula One meeting. The generous list of options allows for more than 2 million permutations of detail, including solar panels that let the air conditioning stay on even when the ignition is off. "Our target group are the leaders of the economy, society and politics, and of course we have customers in some of the royal houses," says Mercedes spokesman Stefan Diehl.

These days the big spenders can afford to be picky. Competition in the supercar market has been at full revs since Mercedes's leading German rivals powered their way into a sector once dominated by the British. Four years ago Volkswagen picked up Bentley in a sale that also led to BMW's gaining control of sister-brand Rolls-Royce. Prestige was at stake for all the players, and the race to create the next generation of hot wheels was on.

Now, the first of these ultra-luxury cars are rolling off the grids. Following on the heels of the Maybach ($360,000), which will reach owners later this month, BMW plans to ...