2026 Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series First Look: The Best SL Ever?

On this day at Monterey Car Week, Maybach debuted a new two-seater convertible for the first time in the new millennium. Dubbed the SL 680 Monogram Series, the latest and greatest from the world's premier German luxury brand—if we discount Bentley and Rolls-Royce being owned by VAG and BMW, anyway—rounds out the lineup in a segment that customers have apparently been clamoring for Maybach to fill.

Mercedes-Maybach invited me to preview the new SL in Malibu the week before Monterey kicked off in earnest, in exactly the kind of a sun-drenched setting where presumptive sales figures will congregate. Even at first glance, the SL 680 carries the torch of traditional luxury and opulence that made Maybach famous, but also continues to show how the Mercedes-Benz influence grows stronger and stronger. So, most of my questions for the Maybach team on hand centered around exactly how the SL 680 differentiates from the SL 63 AMG, and now the AMG GT, all of which ride on the same shared platform.

I recently drove a model year 2023 SL 63 AMG on a quintessential California road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then Monterey, and back. The 800-plus miles of cruising, city life, and canyon carving left me quite surprised that, for what I had thought of as a grand tourer, the AMG SL definitely leans toward the sportier side of the equation. Wasn't that the GT's job here in 2024? I figured the GT should ride firmer and the AMG should soften up the suspension and steering for more of the old-school cruising ethos.

Now we get the answer: The Maybach will be the best grand-tourer based on that SL chassis. Sure, the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 lurks beneath the hood, putting out the same 577 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque through the same nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive system. But otherwise, the Maybach variants received a significant engineering makeover to go with the more obvious cosmetic enhancements.

The expected chrome design details stood out the second I rounded a large rock and the red SL caught my eye, but then a second look revealed further work to smooth out some of the model's few angular aspects. The nose and side sills now sync up, while the rear diffuser transitions to body colored to emphasize more flush lines throughout the design. A black intake grille with subtle Maybach lettering in almost calligraphic illumination—almost impossible to capture in bright sunlight—transitions to a more striking black hood, in this case featuring Maybach logos stamped in Graphite Grey after the original paint gets hand sanded for additional depth.

The Maybach SL will come in only two color schemes, the "Red Ambiance" on display in Malibu as well as a "White Ambience" that technically employs Manufaktur-specific Moonlight White Magno pearlescent paint. Both hoods match in Obsidian Black Metallic, and the specific tone I got up close and personal with, witnessing some subtle color shift in various lighting, is named Garnet Red Metallic.

The grille and black hood then lead through to the matching convertible top, in black cloth also with Maybach logos everywhere—a theme develops, for those curious whether this SL is, in fact, a Maybach at all. That is, if the chrome windshield surround doesn't sound the alarm. But even if the superfluous shiny trim never hits home for my personal taste, the black used for the grille, hood, mirrors, and convertible top components combined to create a horizontal waterline which, along with some of the rounder nose and tail design elements, actually emphasize the SL's overall appeal.

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I'm not a convertible guy, in general, but part of why I find the Maybach SL's design coalesces better than the AMG comes down to the decision to stick with two seats only rather than a 2+2 layout. Behind the front seats, a pair of carpeted parcel shelves that probably lurk beneath every other SL's leather seat cushions now hews more closely with reality: Nobody, even small children, fits well in the backseats of an SL. It's no dealbreaker, being exactly the case with the Porsche 911, which technically satisfies the old familial demands even if everybody involved knows the real truth.

Switching to a dedicated two-seater layout actually solves one of my main complaints about the SL that I drove up to the Bay Area and back. Namely, that the typical M-B seat controls mounted on the door now feature "smart" programming to prevent the front seatbacks from cramming into the rear seat cushions. But at 6'1" with long legs, I wanted to absolutely max out my legroom and the smart feature, which angles the seatback forward as the seat cushion slides rearward, left maybe two inches on the table. And every inch counts after five or six hours on the road.

Hence just about the very first thing I wanted to test when the time arrived: Did Mercedes-Maybach engineers revise that programming? Sure enough! In the Maybach my knees finally reached the perfect angle, even if the seats themselves prioritize swaddling in luxury more than the absolutely perfect buckets of that AMG, which hugged me into place a bit more soundly thanks to more sporting bolsters.

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Quilted stitching on the Crystal White Nappa leather contributes to the more luxurious cushioning—and don't forget the Maybach lettering below the headrests, which also feature the logo. Ventilated, of course, and heated, of course, and, of course, sustainably-sourced leather abounds. But I also noted a few other cues to the step further upmarket, including new pedal caps and monogrammed floor mats—de rigueur, duh.

But I also rode up to Malibu on that weekday in a chauffered Maybach S 680 four-door, the truest statement from the brand since Samuel L Jackson presumably specced his 57S (for 5.7 meters long, if my memory serves). And the interior of the convertible occupies a rung of the ladder just below the four-door, which featured swooping wood trim inlays and a chilled champagne fridge and ventilated everything and reclining rear seats complete with pillows and adjustable headrests and entertainment screens. So much so, in fact, that I fell sound asleep in the backseat (and not because of the non-existent champagne, this was a workday thank you very much).

After that more fully featured experience, I suppose that I expected a bit more from the SL. A few too many surfaces in piano black plastic carry over from the AMG, and I noticed fewer differences in the steering wheel and gauge cluster than I figured Maybach might spring for on a new model. Stroking the haptic controls on a more textural surface, at least, or more substantial roundels for the climate vents. Maybe even some wood grain.

Meanwhile, I know the drivetrain so well that when the Maybach product manager began explaining that the exhaust and engine tuning prioritizes low-end grunt, my mind balked. That's exactly what the SL AMG already delivers, so finding even more of that endless depth somehow requires a leap of imagination. But I made sure to ask whether the nine-speed automatic received different programming for smoother shifts—since Maybach mode made gearshifts almost impossibly imperceptible during my nap. Yep, and the all-wheel-drive system also now biases more evenly rather than toward the rear as on the AMG, too.

All-out performance becomes less of a consideration for a Maybach, or at least in my mind. Low-end shove without requiring a downshift fits into the mix, yes, but flapping through gears on the paddles seems antithetical to Maybach luxury. Instead, I wanted to know how Maybach adjusted the suspension to match the cruiser comfort ethos.

When I first spotted the 21-inch multispoke wheels, rather than bigger or flashier rims, I knew immediately that an engineer (finally) won an argument with a designer. Smaller wheels represent my biggest hope for the Maybach SL, actualy, because taller sidewall rubber immediately creates more compliance. Balancing optics versus cushy dynamics requires that tradeoff, rather than simply relying on shock damper valving to do the job alone.

Yet Maybach still revised the rear spring rates and damper valves, to allow a wider variance toward the more floaty end of the spectrum. Different software programming for all the drive modes will contribute, too, but even the stock camber angle prescribed by the factory for tire alignment should make a difference. The steering ratio has been similarly fiddled with, and rear steering comes standard to improve maneuverability in tighter spaces.

Maybach reps claim all the revisions never sacrifice the driver's ability to firm up the suspension when the time comes, so the SL chassis' sportier aspirations never fly straight out the window. And more exhaust grumble low down in the rev range likely helps to mask any lost sensation in full-gas mode. But then again, those highlights of the SL's extant experience will not shine through until Maybach allows me to actually test-drive the new model.

On the ride up, drifting away in the liminal dream state of a chaufered Maybach and having no teaser images to preview, I imagined the SL 680 differently. My mind's eye pictured something more in line with previous concept car designs, more radical in the vein of Maybach's most expressive excess. Something art deco and bigger and almost more Cadillac or Rolls-Royce than Mercedes. Instead, I wound up fiddling around and shooting photos of an SL convertible that's definitely not the chauffeur's Maybach. Instead, perhaps truly for the first time, this new M-badged model will be for the driver.

In reality, I appreciate seeing a true grand-touring SL back in the lineup to quell any confusion or sibling rivalry. The concept seems well fleshed out, and all my questions went asked and answered without any of the quibbling or corporate jargon that often appears baked into public relations briefing handbooks for engineers, product managers, and designers facing the unenviable task of fielding journalist inquisition.

On the other hand, the fact that the SL 680 will only arrive in two color schemes necessarily hints at some hesitancy, perhaps from the marketing department. Will the customers who clamored for this exact package actually take the leap of faith for the—presumably pricey—starting sticker? The potential to expand possible offerings in the future, in the event that sales meet or exceed expectations, should only require a bit more effort. So in a certain light, Mercedes and Maybach alike decided to merely whet a toe as a sort of introductory salvo.

In the modern era of McLaren Special Operations, Ferrari Tailor Made, Maserati Fuoriserie, and Lamborghini Ad Personam, though, does Maybach not expect individualization to fit into customer visions for the SL? Even if this isn't the first convertible Maybach ever—most recently, the 2017 S Cabriolet with four seats and even more grand touring aspirations, plus let us not forget the G 650 Landaulet SUV, either—the prospect that customers will want a one-of-one build seems more than just likely.

Regardless, as I then rode back home in the S 680, once again dozing into the etherlands where daydreaming meets REM sleep, I tried to envision the ideal SL 680 Monogram Series buyer. Surely, that customer owns a few cars, and a fair number already count a Maybach or two in the stable by now. We're not quite at the same level of sizable leap of imagination that the EQS Maybach required as a fully electric luxury SUV last year, but a V8 rather than a V12 still also seems like something of a letdown gap.

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And Maybach already plans to ship zero SL convertibles to China, which while a big market, is not a convertible market. I can clearly picture an SL 680 Monogram Series cruising the stoplights and shops of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, though, on a hot summer day. Or blasting along the immaculate asphalt of a Middle Eastern metropolis. The market for European sales—outside of Monaco, anyway, which is just another Rodeo Drive by now—seems somewhat more limited. But then again, maybe expansion into something of a more culturally relevant realm fits into Maybach's scheme for the SL. If so, even without knowing the presumably intimidating price tag, these red and white convertibles seem ripe for the taking.