There's something about a long hood that makes everyone go weak in the knees. All that space between the front wheels and the doors exudes raw power and massive wealth. It's been true from the earliest days of the automobile, when cylinder count was synonymous and commensurate with both horsepower and bank account. It's true today, even in an era of engine downsizing and forced induction. If the Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6 Concept is any indication, it'll be true in the era of electric vehicles, as well.

That's right. Hiding beneath that flight deck of a hood is not a V-12 but a trunk with custom-fitted luggage. Beneath that is an 80 kW-hr battery mounted in the floor for better weight distribution and a low center of gravity. It drives four permanent-magnet synchronous electric motors, one connected to each wheel. Together they produce 738 horsepower.

Before we discuss performance, it would give greater perspective to first address the elephant in the wheelbase. This car is huge. At 224.4 inches long, it's 18.7 feet of 1 percent chariot. That's 10 inches longer than the Mercedes-Maybach S600 and 5 inches short of a Rolls-Royce Phantom II, and those both have four doors. Remember when American cars were land yachts? The biggest of them all, the 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limousine, was just 2 feet longer (3 inches short of the modern Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman six-passenger limousine, as it happens). At 52.3 inches tall, it's only 2 inches taller than the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Long and low, baby.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/pebble-beach/mercedes-maybach-vision-6-first-look-nearly-19-feet-of-electric-luxury-coupe/ar-BBvNgcB