CompleteCar

Mercedes reveals its first helicopter

Mercedes-Benz Style has teamed up with Eurocopter to offer a rather special chopper.

We're used to lavish interiors in Mercedes' cars, but now the German firm has turned its attention to helicopters.

The Mercedes-Benz Style department is to luxury what AMG is to performance, so the Eurocopter EC145 helicopter has a sumptuously appointed cabin. Owners of an S-Class will be immediately familiar with the Eurocopter's soft leather seats and wooden trim, while the seats can be varied to accommodate between four and eight passengers.

There are also storage boxes more akin to a car's than a helicopter's to make the chopper's cabin even more versatile.

"Only one year after Eurocopter presented the EC145 'Mercedes-Benz Style' concept at EBACE 2010, we now are unveiling the first aircraft and can already announce the initial sale to a European corporate operator," said Olivier Lambert, Eurocopter's Senior Vice President Sales and Customer Relations. "These achievements confirm Eurocopter's successful approach in developing products that meet the demanding expectations of executive and private customers worldwide."

The Eurocopter EC145 helicopter comes with a two 770hp Turbomeca turbine engines and has a top speed of 246km/h. Unlike a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the EC145 can fly at up to 5,485-metres from the ground to avoid traffic jams.

If you fancy a Eurocopter with the Mercedes-Benz Style cabin, you'll be looking at around €6 million, so that top-of-the-range S-Class looks like pretty good value.

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Published on May 18, 2011