1 June 2001: Some 20 people have lodged orders for the Mercedes Maybach luxury car and the M-B SLR McLaren, two years before they will be available. They each put down £25,000 deposit on the Maybach which will retail in excess of £200,000 sterling and the SLR up to £260,000.

Final details of the Maybach have yet to be released, but the standard wheelbase version is likely to be longer than a Mercedes-Benz S600.

Two electrically adjustable aircraft-style reclining seats in the rear will give Maybach passengers the ultimate in luxury seating. An on-board bar will stock hot and cold drinks. passengers in the rear are able to control the transparency of the glass roof electronically so that it is either perfectly clear or semi-transparent for more diffuse illumination.

The Maybach will be powered by a special twin-turbo V12 engine of just under 6-litre capacity. A longer wheelbase version will also be available. Right-hand-drive Maybachs will not be built until 2003.

Its name, "Maybach", symbolizes engineering genius. It pays tribute to the famous automotive engineer Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929), whose work with Gottlieb Daimler was instrumental in the development of the first Daimler gasoline engine.

The SLR McLaren will be powered by a Mercedes-AMG tuned 5.5-litre V8 supercharged engine, with an estimated 0-62mph time of just 4.2 seconds and a maximum speed of 198mph.

It will be the first Mercedes to be built in Britain. The SLR is being developed and will be constructed at the McLaren Cars Ltd factory in Woking, Surrey.

On 22 March a reservation list for both the Maybach and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was opened. Within five weeks potential customers in the UK had placed deposits totalling more than £500,000. BB