Logo monograms go moto with the latest Mercedes Maybach

There was something in the air at this year’s Monterey Car Week, the annual celebration of automotive excellence held on the northern Californian peninsula. Beyond the revving of supercars, wafts of salty ocean breeze, the chatter of zealous motor enthusiasts and strains of Springsteen from open-top hot-rods, the atmosphere was charged with excitement – courtesy of Mercedes Benz.

In the midst of Monterey's supercharged schedule, from The Quail to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Mercedes Benz gathered a handful of guests at a manicured modernist villa to unveil the sportiest model in the history of its luxe Maybach line: the SL 680 Monogram Series.

"Our customers love something special," says Daniel Lescow, head of Mercedes-Maybach. "The SL Monogram Series adds a sporty two-seater to our model family for the ultimate open-air pleasure. It combines a dynamic driving experience with everything that characterises a Mercedes-Maybach: excellent craftsmanship, exquisite design details and fine materials.”

While the sophisticated streamlined shape, chrome-finished radiator grille and nappa leather interior impress, Vogue Scandinavia's attentions were captured by a new luxury fashion-inspired detail: a logo monogram pattern playing out across the exterior and interior of the SL 680. Adopting the appeal of Louis Vuitton's unmistakable 19th-century checkerboard 'Damier' canvas, or Burberry's interlocking 'TB' motif pattern by Riccardo Tisci, Mercedes-Maybach has made its own fashionable stamp on its models with finely integrated monogram lettering.

On the bonnet, beneath the standing three-pointed star emblem dating back to the birth of Mercedes Benz in the 1920s, the SL 860 bears an obsidian black panel (upon request) with the Maybach monogram incorporated in graphite grey. The process of application is complex and partly completed by hand: the base coat is sanded before the pattern is printed onto it with precision, after which it's finished with a coat of clear lacquer. The pattern continues from front to read, inside and out, including on the car's soft top and interior dashboard panels.

"It's natural for a luxury brand to take its logo and play with it, use it in different ways," says Gorden Wagener, chief design officer from Mercedes-Benz Group. "It was a no-brainer for us to do the same with the Maybach pattern, which looks so sophisticated. To have it on a soft top, too, is so luxurious, and that soft top fabric is of a quality comparable to what Hermes would use. It's in the same realm as luxury clothing and goods."

Fittingly, once the curtain was lifted on the Maybach SL 680 in Monterey, the two-seater made its entrance by gliding down an LED catwalk with the silent ease and grace of Shalom or Naomi. The model on show was 'Red Ambience', though an optic white iteration will also be available at market launch, which for Europe will be in 2025.

It's not the first time Mercedes Benz has taken sartorial cutes for its Maybach range, collaborating several times with the late fashion visionary Virgil Abloh. The technicalities of the performance are just as sophisticated too, delivering a typically comfort-led Maybach driving experience: think suspension set-up, soft engine mounts and smooth-shifting auto transmission. In the words of Wagener, "the SL 680 isn't expected to be a high-performance race car, it's all about all that sophistication, luxury, craftsmanship and design."