Mercedes-Maybach GLS 680 Is America’s Most Absurd Luxury SUV—And It’s Actually Built Here

Mercedes-Maybach just dropped a luxury SUV so aggressively opulent it makes the Bentley Bentayga look understated. The 2027 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 680 lands this year as the brand’s answer to everyone who asked: “But what if I wanted an S-Class, but also needed to haul a small nation?” Except this isn’t some half-baked idea—it’s a full-blooded assault on the ultra-luxury SUV segment, and the punchline is that it’s built in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Let’s talk chrome. So much chrome. The GLS 680 doesn’t just have it; it weaponizes it. Bright surround trim wraps the lower grille, vertical slats dominate the center, and polished accents run down the front bumper like a luxury car cosplaying as a Vegas hotel. The rear tailgate gets a chrome-starred taillight design—because subtlety died somewhere around the third S-Class facelift. Even the grille surround and Maybach branding light up, while optional rose gold accents sit inside the headlights. If you hate it, Maybach offers a Night Series Design Package with dark chrome and blackened aluminum running boards to dial back the bling by maybe 15 percent. Optional 23-inch forged chrome wheels complete the look, each one featuring a gyroscopic Mercedes star that stays level while the wheel spins—a detail so unnecessary it loops back around to being essential.

The Cabin Is Where This Gets Genuinely Insane

Forget what you think you know about car interiors. The GLS 680’s cabin is a masterclass in “because we can.” The centerpiece is Mercedes’ latest MBUX system with the Superscreen—three 12.3-inch displays fused into one piece of glass that stretches across the dashboard like an iPad that swallowed another iPad. Second-row passengers get twin 11.6-inch screens for entertainment, meaning the back seat has its own personal cinema.

The seats are wrapped in new Nappa leather available in beech brown and macchiato beige, which is a fancy way of saying “you’re never sitting in anything this soft again.” A 15-speaker Burmester sound system with 710 watts of amplification plays your music with authority, while new insulation layers in the engine bulkhead and transmission tunnel promise to keep road noise at bay. And because this is Maybach, there’s a champagne chiller with two bottle holders in the rear—because regular cup holders are for regular people.

Power That Shouldn’t Fit in an SUV

Under the hood lives a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with a flat-plane crank paired to a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. The numbers alone are bonkers: 603 hp from the engine itself, plus another 23 hp from the integrated starter generator, totaling 626 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque. For context, that’s more power than a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Coupe, except this thing weighs approximately as much as a small apartment building and rides on air suspension.

Mercedes claims balance shafts minimize vibration, so this mountain of displacement should run smooth as bourbon. Power feeds all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic—because in 2027, even a luxury SUV needs to be somewhat efficient. The steering has been reworked for better agility (good luck with that in a vehicle this massive), and suspension tuning has been completely redone to handle the extra weight and power.

Suspension That Leans Into Corners Like a Sports Car

Here’s where it gets weird in the best way: optional E-Active Body Control suspension constantly monitors and adjusts spring and damper forces at each wheel up to 1,000 times per second. A predictive system scans the road surface ahead and pre-programs the dampers before the wheels get there. There’s an off-road mode that lets the GLS lift itself loose when things get messy, which is hilarious for a $180,000+ luxury barge. But the real party trick? The GLS will actively lean into corners by up to three degrees, because Mercedes somehow convinced engineers that an ultra-luxury SUV needed to corner like it’s auditioning for a race track.

This is pure unnecessary tech—and it’s exactly why this car exists. Nobody needs active lean in an SUV. Nobody needs champagne holders or gyroscopic wheel caps or rose gold headlight accents. But someone will buy this thing specifically because it has all three.

Built in Alabama, Priced Like a Beverly Hills Estate

The 2027 GLS 680 arrives before the end of 2026 from Mercedes’ Tuscaloosa, Alabama factory—making it arguably the most opulent SUV rolling out of an American production facility. Mercedes hasn’t announced final U.S. pricing yet, but expectations point north of the previous GLS 600’s $180,000 starting price, which means you’re probably looking at $200,000 territory before options. Add those 23-inch chrome wheels, the Night Package, the active suspension, the special leather, and the rose gold accents, and you’re wandering into uncharted territory.

The GLS 680 exists in a space where logic stops mattering. It’s not the fastest luxury SUV. It’s not the most practical. It’s not even the most efficient. What it is, with absolute certainty, is the most *Maybach*—which means it’s dripping in chrome, stuffed with screens, powered by a flat-plane V8 that has no business being in a family hauler, and equipped with suspension that turns corners like a sports car. In other words, it’s exactly what Mercedes built it to be: a statement that if you have the money, Mercedes can make anything absurdly luxurious. Even an SUV.

Sources: Carscoops