Maybach Laundaulet news - The wind in your heir - 2007

If you're the sort of tinpot dictator who likes to feel the wind in your hair as you waft through hoards of subservient minions, Maybach might just have the car for you.

This is the Maybach Landaulet, an open-topped version of the presidential-chic 62 S and quite possibly the most over-the-top way to ruffle your toupe... short of a head massage by a well-oiled John McCririck.

A landaulet is, effectively, a half-folding roof - a canvas top that folds back over the rear passengers while retaining the front cabin and the side walls. That means that your chauffeur remains mercifully covered and hidden from view while you can absorb the gushing praise from your loyal subjects without the hindrance of a roof.

That roof will open in just 16 seconds when the chauffeur flicks the switch - obviously controlling one's own roof is far below the remit of the true autocrat.

The Landaulet is powered by the same six-litre V12 as the 62 S, which develops 612bhp and will power the uber-cabrio to 60mph in the five second region... quick enough to evade the most hostile revoluationaries.

Price? Well, there's no official word, but suffice to say that 'GDP of a central American nation' might start to cover it.