Remember, about twenty years ago, when concept cars seemed to be aimed at the majority target audience? Pickup trucks, the earliest roots of crossovers and sport-cutes, muscle cars that hadn’t been given back their fangs yet, and so on and so forth? Yep…these two aren’t in that ballpark. They aren’t even in “luxury” territory. The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 coupe and the Cadillac Escala concept sedan are top-tier benchmarks that are debuting at Pebble Beach, because if you want to present a car that is supposed to impress the social elite with the wallets that are ever-so-fat, you do it there they will be seen. But do they do anything for you? Let’s take a look at the two:

1. Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6

Mercedes has been toying with their “Maybach” nameplate for a good decade or so now, and while it isn’t it’s own marque anymore, it still denotes the ultimate version of the three-pointed star’s capabilities. But what we are really seeing, if we are honest, is a futuristic vision of what Cruella DeVille’s sedan would look like: effing long, super powerful, and just about ridiculous. It’s a two-door, two-seat sled that’s eighteen feet long. That’s full-sized, mid-1970s coupe territory. If you are an oil sheik, third-world dictator, or a Bond supervillan, it’ll be a perfect fit.

2. Cadillac Escala

Cadillac has had a pattern running for a while now: build a concept car so gorgeous that people are ready to shove fistfuls of dollars directly into your pocket, hand, mouth, whatever, and to step back, observe for a little bit and then say the ultimate concept-car death knell: “It’s a styling development, not a production vehicle.” Ciel, Elmiraj…Caddy can knock it out of the park, but they will run up into the stands and snatch that home run ball away from the kid who caught it. The latest round in this epic tease is the Escala, which at first might smack of “Escalade”, but might also be related to “LaScala”, a name that Lee Iacocca was so fond of that both a Cadillac and a Chrysler nearly got the name. It’s a handsome sedan, but the likelihood of production is right up there with finding D.B. Cooper dancing a jig in front of a Six Flags tour bus, especially since Cadillac has already said it’s just a styling exercise to preview new design language.

There’s your options, readers. Like one? Hate them both? Want to pick apart the designs? The comments section below is your outlet to the world…let your feelings be known!