Frankfurt, Germany - Daimler will unveil a new version of the Mercedes-Benz Pullman at next month's Geneva auto show, a six-seater stretch limousine known for its popularity with plutocrats, dictators and politicians.
The car is based on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but will have a wheelbase which is a full metre longer than the standard version to allow for an extra row of seats.
The original Pullman 600, launched by Mercedes-Benz at the Frankfurt auto show in 1963, was more than six metres long and had a top speed of 200km/h.
‘DICTATOR SHIP’
It gained notoriety as a “dictator ship” because it proved so popular with autocrats including Uganda's Idi Amin, Romania's Nicolae Ceaucescu, and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito.
In April Reuters reported that Mercedes-Benz was working on a Pullman “state limousine” which is set to cost up to $1 million (R11.8 million) in its armour-plated version.
The original Pullman had a complex hydraulic suspension that allowed it to hurtle along at high speeds on poor-quality roads.
At the time, Mercedes wanted to show rivals Rolls-Royce and Cadillac it could make a car that was comfortable even at high speeds, a difficult feat for armour-plated vehicles weighing more than 3.4 tons.
Reuters