The Kunlun Hotel in Beijing is a good place to check some proper metal. I went there on a sunny spring day and found a great deal of wheel, starting with this Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe.
A great looking example, painted in dark blue with a dark blue roof. Power comes from the massive 6.75 liter V12, good for 455 hp and 760 Nm.
Standing just meters away from The Roller was this enormous Maybach 62S. The Maybach is so long that is gets yellow commercial-vehicle license plates in most Chinese cities, including in Beijing.
This particular car has a very special plate with the numbers 899, bot the 8 and the 9 are considered to be lucky numbers in Chinese culture. The Maybach 62S is massively more powerful than the Rolls-Royce, powered by a twin-turbocharged 6.0 V12 with 612 hp and 1000 Nm.
A little bit further I found this Porsche 911 Turbo, painted in black and standing on incredible beautiful wheels.
The 911 is very popular in China but the turbo model is relatively rare. I guess the 2.28 million price tag explains most of that! The 3.8 liter turbocharged flat-six puts out 520 hp and 660 Nm.
Moving on to a modern day Maybach, the Mercedes-Maybach S400 4Matic, which is a China-only model. It is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0 liter V6 with 333hp and 480 Nm, sending horses to all wheels.
The reason for the 3 liter engine is tax; engines of four liter and above are taxed to the max. A price comparison: S400 4Matic starts at 1.43 million yuan ($229.000), and the Mercedes-Maybach S600 starts at 2.88 million ($462.000), more than double the price.
Catch of the hour was this ART Mercedes-Benz G500 Cabriolet Streetline, painted in light white with a black top and giant white wheels. ART added a heavy body kit, including new light units and a totally new bumper.
The result is simply bonkers, and very lovable. All that extra plastic adds weight, so power is up to a massive 490hp and 650nm. More on this ART is a later post.
Saying goodbye with another look at the Rolls-Royce, with a second Mercedes-Maybach in the background.