Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, GLS 680 SUVs May Be Inbound

New trademark applications filed by Daimler with the United States Patent and Trademark Office may provide an exclusive preview of what Mercedes-Benz has in store for 2019.

The luxury automaker recently filed three trademark applications with the USPTO for ‘GLS 600’, ‘GLS 680’ and ‘S 680’.

While these trademarks aren’t guaranteed to show up on a production Mercedes vehicle, it’s not hard to imagine where they might fit in the brand’s lineup if they did.

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These days, Mercedes vehicles with the ‘600’ badge fall under the ultra-luxury Maybach sub-brand. If these trademark applications are an indication, Mercedes could be looking at introducing a GLS 600 Maybach, which would be the first SUV to wear a Maybach badge.

The trademark application supports rumors we’ve heard that Maybach is set to introduce a new SUV based on the next-generation GLS. The automaker also hinted toward a potential Maybach SUV with the Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury concept it showed in Beijing last year.

As for GLS 680 and S 680, they may be reserved for more powerful or more luxurious versions of the GLS and S Class, respectively. It’s hard to predict what the GLS 680 and S 680 could be due to the strange reasoning behind the Chinese-market S 680, though.

Mercedes introduced an S 680 Maybach in China last year, but that vehicle was simply an updated S600 and wasn’t much different than the S 600. According to Car News China, Mercedes only tacked only tacked the ‘8’ on because it’s a lucky number in China.

This practice probably wouldn’t fly in the US and the number ‘8’ is of little significance to North Americans, so the GLS 680 and S 680 will likely have more power or additional equipment over the GLS 600 and S 600.

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There’s also the possibility that Mercedes has no plans to use these names in the United States anytime soon and is simply laying claim to potential future badges.

That said, we’d be surprised not to see one of the GLS badges in the US at some point. Ultra luxury SUVs are in high demand and Mercedes’ rivals over at Rolls-Royce and Bentley have already beaten them in bringing them to market. That must sting for Mercedes – not only are such SUVs popular, the profit margins can be significant.

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