Maybach 57 and 62 Zeppelin: first official photos

Just when you thought the Maybach brand couldn't go any further into the stratoshphere, Stuttgart goes and announces a new 100-strong limited edition. The new Maybach Zeppelin versions of the 57 and 62 limo revive an old badge from the 1930s, as well as the airship pioneered by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin at the turn of the twentieth century.

The 2009-spec Maybach 57 and 62 Zeppelins have an opinion-dividing contrasting paint job, interior tricks galore – and even a 'world first sophisticated perfume atomiser'. That claim says a lot about Maybach, no?
Zeppelin Maybachs: ballooning power outputs

These are huge lardy limos, so Maybach has tuned up the 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12s in the 57 and 62 to develop an extra 28bhp, now topping 631bhp and 737lb ft of oceanic twist. New 20-inch wheels help transmit the thrust to the tarmac, but there are few other mechanical changes.

And what of that duo-tone paintwork? Mercedes calls the contrasting coloured shoulderline Rocky Mountains Light Brown (sounds like beige to us; we had to check that wasn't an April Fool's joke!) which sits alongside the Taiga black paint of the rest of the bodywork. Naturally, customers can deviate from these standard tones and spec the Zeppelin in the colour of their choosing.

Other visual distinguishing features include smaller, more aero-efficient door mirrors that are said to reduce wind rustle, and distinctive Zeppelin lettering below the double-M Maybach badge. Inside, the Zeppelin is furnished in sheik-spec with lambskin carpets, diamond-quilted seat cushions, partition screen in the 62 and Zepp-inscribed champagne flutes.

CAR finds it hard to do anything other than laugh at the optional £3500 perfume atomiser; owners can apparently drop in a vial of their preferred fragrance, which is then pumped gently into the atmosphere at the touch of a button – by Jeeves up front or via a thumbwheel at the back until your nostrils can take no more. Perfume specialist Givaudan has even created two scents for the Zeppelin – 'one light and refreshing, the other slightly heavier and woodier'. It won't be the first time the Maybach's got up our nose.

The Maybach Zeppelin goes on sale in March 2009, first deliveries kick off in September and German prices start at £365,000 for the 57 and £425,000 for the 62. And that's before VAT...