Mercedes-Maybach S-Class update brings new V8 to Australia

The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class has received its most substantial update yet, with Australia gaining a new V8-powered S 580 alongside the retained V12 flagship. It remains a luxury sedan for buyers who regard ordinary excess as a starting point, not an indulgence. The S 680’s V12 engine survives at a time when twelve-cylinder motoring is becoming increasingly rare. Meanwhile, the rear seats remain the real centre of gravity, as they should in a Maybach carrying a price comfortably beyond $500,000 before on-road costs.

Why the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class update matters

Mercedes has made visible alterations without disturbing the familiar S-Class silhouette, enlarging the radiator grille by 20 per cent and adding an illuminated Maybach wordmark. Revised DIGITAL LIGHT headlamps gain rose-gold detailing, while new 20-inch forged wheels use a ball-bearing system designed to keep the Mercedes star upright as the car moves.

That wheel detail is faintly absurd, but it is also entirely appropriate for a luxury sedan operating in this rarefied territory. Buyers spending this sort of money are not merely buying transport, and Mercedes knows that the small flourishes matter almost as much as the larger mechanical numbers.

The more consequential changes sit inside, where the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class adopts MB.OS and the fourth generation of MBUX for the first time. A 14.4-inch central touchscreen and passenger display sit beneath one glass panel, with rose-gold graphics, biometric profiles and a revised Zero Layer interface intended to make the technology feel considered rather than merely plentiful.

Digital hardware can make an expensive cabin feel strangely disposable when screen count replaces craftsmanship, but Mercedes appears alive to that danger here. MANUFAKTUR materials, Beech Brown trim options and the physical detailing surrounding the displays should help the rear seats retain the sense of occasion expected from a Maybach.

Rear occupants receive two 13.1-inch displays, dedicated remote controls and integrated cameras for video calls, while Digital Vent Control and AIR BALANCE manage cabin airflow. The optional First-Class Package adds a full-length centre console, refrigerated compartment and champagne flutes, confirming that this luxury sedan has little interest in pretending restraint is part of its brief.

Heated front seatbelts are now standard and can warm to as much as 44 degrees Celsius, joining heated armrests and a heated steering wheel. It sounds like an expensive answer to a minor problem, but that is rather the point: the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is designed to make cold mornings less bothersome, not more technologically complicated.

The V12 engine still defines the range

Australia will receive the Mercedes-Maybach S 580 4MATIC with a twin-turbocharged V8 producing 395 kW and 750 Nm, assisted by a 48-volt integrated starter-generator. Above it sits the S 680 4MATIC, whose 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 engine produces 463 kW and 900 Nm, with both variants claiming 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds.

Keeping the V12 engine matters because Mercedes could easily have used this update to simplify the range around smaller engines or electrification. Instead, the S 680 remains deliberately excessive, while the S 580 offers Australian buyers a comparatively less extravagant route into those lavish rear seats.

Both models use 4MATIC all-wheel drive and a nine-speed automatic transmission, with 4.5-degree rear-axle steering fitted as standard and a 10-degree system available optionally. AIRMATIC suspension is standard, while the S 580 can be fitted with E-ACTIVE BODY CONTROL that uses shared Car-to-X information to prepare for speed bumps detected by compatible Mercedes vehicles.

Mercedes has also updated DIGITAL LIGHT with new micro-LED hardware, increasing the high-resolution illumination field by around 40 per cent and extending high-beam reach to as much as 600 metres. The MB.DRIVE assistance package adds active distance control, steering assistance, lane-change support, parking assistance and a rim-protection warning, which seems sensible on a car wearing expensive wheels.

The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class starts at $517,900 before on-road costs in S 580 form, while the S 680 begins at $582,428 before on-road costs, with Australian arrivals expected in the first quarter of 2027. Options can make those figures considerably more ambitious, but Mercedes has preserved the V12 engine, upgraded the technology and kept the rear seats central to the car’s appeal, which is exactly what this luxury sedan needed.