Mercedes Ready To Usher The Wealthy From Monaco Out Onto The Water And Into The Sky

In the market for a luxury automobile? Your local Mercedes dealer has options for you, from a $30,000 CLA all the way up to a $200,000 Maybach S-Class. But what if it’s not a car you want? What if it’s a yacht or a private jet? Mercedes can help you with that, too.

The German automaker hasn’t gone into the business of engineering, building, or selling boats or aircraft, but its design division has branched out into designing their interiors. And it’s displaying its capabilities at the Monaco Yacht Show that’s going on in Monte Carlo while our attention is focused a thousand kilometers north at the Port de Versailles for the Paris Motor Show.

Mercedes-Benz Style recently teamed up with Silver Arrows Marine to help launch a range of yachts. That starts with the Arrow 460 Granturismo, whose interior has been revealed for the first time at the Monaco expo. The design blurs the lines between the vessel’s interior and exterior space with windows that are retractable to let the wind blow through and electronically tinted (using Benz’s Magic Sky technology) to let the light shine (or not shine) into the cabin. Production is slated to begin “in the coming months,” with the first deliveries earmarked for later next year.

Even more impressive (to our eyes anyway) is the private jet cabin that Mercedes-Benz Style has designed with Lufthansa Technik. The design is envisioned for an Airbus 320 or Boeing 737 – the type of aircraft you might have flown commercially on a short- or medium-haul flight, but is here transformed for private use. It includes a private bedroom, kitchen, on-board theater, bathroom with shower (that’s right, a shower on an airplane), a dining section, kitchen, office, and a variety of seating and lounging areas to suit any taste. It’s not as much about what it has, though, as it is about how it incorporates it all, with a flowing design that melds floor, ceiling, walls, and even seats into an organic form.

The designs provide a glimpse into the style available to those with as much taste as they have money, and will be on display over the weekend in Monaco. But if your plans aren’t taking you to the chic Mediterranean principality, you can still fantasize while browsing through the images below.