Now we know what Randy Parker, little brother of Ralphie in the classic 1983 movie “A Christmas Story,” would get if he grew up to be the head of a bailed-out Wall Street bank: The Maybach Zeppelin. The newest range-topper for Mercedes-Benz’s ultra-luxury brand boasts a host of refinements and upgrades — as if the regular Maybachs are so pedestrian — including a bump in horsepower to the car’s twin-turbocharged V-12 engine, giving it 640 hp and 737 lb.-ft. of torque.

The Maybach Zeppelin is not, in reality, an homage to campy 80s holiday films, but a reincarnation of the classic Maybach model of the 1930s. It includes a two-tone paint job that is supposed to evoke memories of the original Zeppelin model, along with special badges on the exterior and interior.

The Zeppelin also introduces a world-first: perfumed air, and no, that doesn’t mean dangling a couple of pine trees from the rearview mirror. Using a computerized, programmable perfume vial, the Zeppelin can make its air smell like whatever the owners put in the jar. Maybach says that the perfume won’t soak into the clothes of passengers or the car’s upholstery, and even notes that it shuts itself off every now and then so that your nose has a chance to get un-used to the odor, later respraying as it “allows the experience to be enjoyed all over again.” It also comes with two select fragrances developed exclusively for Maybach. Cost? How about a cool €406,000 for the short-wheelbase Maybach 57 Zeppelin (about $523,865), or €473,200 for the long-wheelbase 62 Zeppelin (about $610,235). The perfume squirter is an option, by the way, and will set you back an extra €3,950, or about $5,100. I think Randy could afford it.

(The “Christmas Story” stuff too obscure? Be grateful I didn’t go with a “crash-and-burn” prediction for the new model.)

A word to all you auto show goers out there: See those pretty women standing on the display, giving a rundown of a new car’s features? They don’t run the company. In fact, they usually don’t even work for it. They’re hired models or spokespeople, contracted out from a marketing company to work that show.

Duh, right? Maybe, but I feel the need to post this little PSA thanks to an article in yesterday’s New York Times about hecklers giving these women a hard time. Now, admittedly, it is frustrating to see billions of taxpayer dollars — your money — going to prop up companies that are doing nothing more than reaping what they’ve sown over the past several decades. But giving the spokesmodels a hard time isn’t going to change that. I can assure you that the pretty blond at the GM display is not going to report your complaint to GM’s new CEO Fritz Henderson. If you really are peeved about the whole bailout thing, contact your Congressional representative. I’m suuuuure they’ll get right on it.

The article also notes the different vibe from each display, pointing out the fashion choices at the Kia and Hyundai displays, while noting that the GM folks are wearing last year’s clothes…how gauche! Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if the GM display in New York smelled a little like mothballs, well, now you know why.

New York Times

These photos of the upcoming new Acura sporty-utility crossover coupe thing have been kicking around for a while now, but Acura now has given the beast a name: ZDX. It will debut at the New York Auto Show in April in a couple of weeks, but for now, there’s a little more information on the car.

First, clearly, it’s designed as a counterpunch to the BMW X6. Acura is calling it a “four door sport coupe,” but with the (blank)DX moniker, it’s obviously a crossover of some sort and not a sedan. Having driven the X6 and thinking it was, well, one of the worst BMWs on the market today, I’m a little surprised to see that it has spawned a direct competitor. In reality, the ZDX can’t possibly be considered a knock-off of the X6, since the product development time is too short. But with a similar profile and, I assume, mission as the BMW X6, the Acura ZDX proves that Acura at the very least cribs off BMW’s product planning method.

The Acura ZDX shown in New York will officially be a prototype. In Acura-speak, that means that it will be a thinly disguised production car, about 90 percent accurate to the final version. The photos Acura has released so far don’t show much, to say the least, but it looks mostly like an MDX with a chop-top. Considering that the X6 hasn’t exactly been flying off dealer lots, I’ll be curious to see how this thing does.

Acura ZDX Prototype

Photos of Acura ZDX prototype

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