Mercedes S-Class Grand Edition launches

Mercedes S-Class Grand Edition - AMG cosmetics to garner the last sales

It’s usually a fair assumption that when Mercedes launches a car with a ‘Grand Edition’ badge attached to its boot that the end for that model is nigh. And so it is with the Mercedes S-Class Grand Edition.

So before the 2012 S-Class arrives with its Magic Sky and Magic Body and Magic everything else, Mercedes has bolted a lot of its high-end cosmetics to the more lowly S-Class models to try and wring the last few sales out of a car that is long in the tooth and no longer as good as the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8 or Jaguar XJ.

Key to the S-Class Grand Edition appeal is AMG additions, designed to make the S-Class look both more aggressive and more expensive.

Mercedes has endowed the Grand Edition with AMG front and rear bumpers and side skirts and a chrome exhaust. Alloys are the 19″ variety and AMG brakes with drilled calipers are fitted to the front.

Inside the S-Class Grand Edition you’ll get stainless steel pedals and a leather steering wheel, black ash trim and a set of ‘Grand Edition’ badges.

Toys for this S-Class are stuff like LED running lights and Mercedes Intelligent Light System, COMAND, Voice and Speed Assist.

You can even bolt all the goodies in the Grand Edition’s arsenal to quite lowly S-Class models. In fact you can have the Grand Edition as the S250 CDI or S350 BlueTec diesels or, if petrol seems more seemly in an S-Class, you can opt for the S350 BlueEfficiency or the S500 BlueEfficiency (only the S600 and S63 escape some sort of ‘Blue Eco’ moniker these days).

But if you do opt for the S250 CDI Grand Edition you should probably tick the box to delete the model designation.

(48 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK