Hailed by Mercedes as the undisputed leader of its segment, the new flagship luxury coupé - the CL Class - has arrived in Irish showrooms.
It is a leader by default as it is the only car on the Irish market in this extremely expensive segment. With the cheaper (by some €80,000) four-door CLS coupé now fighting against the only other car that could have been considered to offer the CL any competition - the BMW 6 Series - this new, seventh-generation CL remains in a league of its own.
While the Bentley Continental and the Maserati Coupé GT are worthy opponents, they are only available as imports leaving the CL in smug isolation at the head of the Irish segment.
Genuine CL customers shouldn't need to ask the price. Seventy-five of them have already confirmed their orders for this new model, meaning Ireland's total allocation has already been sold. Just for the record, the CL starts at €163,385 for the V8 and rises to €223,330 for the V12.
Both models have 5.5-litre engines, with the bi-turbo V12 in the CL600 pumping out 517bhp and a massive 830Nm of torque, despite being detuned to reduce the stress on the standard seven-speed auto box.
The more realistic V8 powering the CL500, which will be the most popular version of this luxury four-seater in Ireland, still has a full stable of 388 horses under its bonnet which between them provide 530Nm of torque, which is enough to take this 2.5-tonne luxury GT to 100km/h in just under 5.5 seconds and on to a limited 250km/h.
By the summer two further, more powerful and even more expensive models will join the fold - the V8 63 AMG and the V12 65 AMG - although prices have yet to be confirmed.
All models have peerless safety features including Mercedes' Pre-Safe Brake system, which uses radar to anticipate collision situations. This system comes on top of the already comprehensive Pre-Safe technology first shown in the S-Class and now featuring in the CL and smaller E-Class.
While demand has seen the 75 CLs allocated to Irish dealers already sold, it is a certainty more will be arriving as discussions between the importer, MDL, and Mercedes continue.
With 228 customers of the previous model, which was launched in 1999, still on Irish roads, there remain many potential Irish buyers. For many years Mercedes has been forced to sit in an uncomfortable second place behind rival German marque BMW.
This year however, Mercedes hopes to close the gap, not on the basis of the CL's arrival but rather the combination of an increase in sales of its compact B-Class, continuing healthy demand for the relatively new E-Class and the arrival of the new C-Class later this year.