Personally speaking, if I had the money, I would never buy a Maybach, it’s a Mercedes by any other name. Imagine if BMW-owned Rolls Royce put a restyled front and rear bumper on a BMW 7 Series and stuck the Spirit of Ecstasy on the bonnet (hood) and said, “there you go this is the new Rolls Royce Phantom Duplex Edition”. Of course, BMW would never conceive of doing so because despite all their faults, of which there are too many to list, at least BMW has a small degree of class and respect for the Rolls Royce brand.

A Maybach is and always will be a Mercedes and the GLS will never be a luxury SUV because Mercedes does premium luxury well enough already. However, there is a big divide between ultra-luxury brands like Rolls Royce and a Maybach GLS pretending to be an alternative luxurious rival.

It isn’t merely about perceived quality or even history, it’s about execution. And Mercedes has reached its limits when it tries to go in the ring with an ultra-luxury brand such as Rolls Royce. But our negativity towards the Maybach pretense isn’t enough to ward off modifiers Carlex Design, a company that specializes in creating bespoke interiors.

The company has created a “tailored” Maybach GLS with a two-tone Black, Mint paint job with Gold highlights. The two-tone exterior finish is carried on into the completely re-trimmed interior. Lots of contrast stitching and black piping abound on the leather-clad surfaces.

The 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo hybrid is unaltered, 550bhp and 729 Nm of torque allows for a not-too-shabby 0-62mph time of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 155mph.

The standard Maybach GLS costs $160k brand new, expect to pay Carlex Design a not too shabby tribute to put more luxury into a Maybach GLS.