The Stuttgart-based grand brand is intensely working on a new generation of its monstrous GLS, set to keep its head up in the segment of the super luxurious premium SUVs. Bentley Bentayga, Rolls-Royce Cullinan and probably Aston Martin’s Lagonda SUV will be waiting for it.

It has already been four years since talks about a Maybach GLS surfaced. Autocar Magazine now reveals that the dream will finally materialize. Mercedes is planning on revealing the concept of the SUV in April, at the Beijing Motor Show. Under the name of Maybach 9, the GLS-based concept will get all the specific exclusive Maybach treatment, inspired from the latest Mercedes-Maybach S-Class just unveiled in Geneva. A radiator grille with vertical slats, a two-tone paint scheme and the double-M logo on the pillars will be a few of the exterior elements adorning the Maybach 9.

The Maybach GLS will make its way off the assembly line in November 2018, right on time for the Los Angeels Motor Show, with sales ready to start some time in 2019. The production will probably start off at the Mercedes Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama, where the current GLS is being built.

The company’s 4.0-liter V8 biturbo engine should find room under the bonnet of the high-ride car.

China, Russia and the United States are keen on receiving the Mercedes-Maybach SUV. One in ten Mercedes S-Class models sold last year was a Maybach. The GLS is not the first of the company’s SUVs to get the Maybach specification. The 99-limited edition G 650 Landaulet gets all the credit for that.