MERCEDES-BENZ has massaged its flagship S-Class for the 2018 model year, slimming down the range by subtracting four variants and adding a brace of new and revised engines – with new model designations to suit.

And prices have been cut across the range – dramatically cut, in some cases, with five-figure reductions on retail stickers.

The result is a seven-strong S-Class family, starting with the $192,900 S350d and topping out with the $425,000 Mercedes-Maybach S650. At the bottom end the price of entry has dropped by a chunky $28,055, while the flagship Maybach is $23,036 more affordable than before.

Note that “affordable” is a relative term here.

Meanwhile the short wheelbase Mercedes-AMG S63 has been turfed, with the longer-bodied S63 L being the only AMG model remaining in the S-Class stable. What about the big-daddy AMG S65? That one has also been cut from the range, with the Mercedes-Maybach S650 now the only way to get a V12 in an S-Class.

It’s not just the badges that have been reworked. There are big changes under the bonnet, with the 2018 S-Class being the first car to receive Mercedes-Benz’s new family of inline six-cylinder diesel engines.

Standard features on the base-level S350d, which is now only available in short-wheelbase form, includes a 13-speaker Burmester stereo, heated and cooled front seats, a 360-degree camera display, 19-inch alloys, a digital TV tuner and power-closing doors and bootlid.

The S400d L is an exclusively long-wheelbase, high-output diesel option, offering 250kW and 700Nm from an uprated version of the S350d’s straight-six turbo diesel.

Not fancy enough? The $270,000 S560 and the $295,000 S560 L bring double-glazed glass, glossy wood trim, built-in rear-seat entertainment screens and something called “Energizing comfort control”.

This is a ten-minute program that marshals climate control, seat heating, ventilation and massage functions, ambient lighting, fragrances and ‘musical atmospheres’ in order to deliver six different wellness programmes: freshness, warmth, vitality, joy, comfort and training. It sounds awful but some recompense comes with the knowledge that the S560 models get a twin-turbo 4.0-litre petrol V8 as part of the package, spitting out 345kW and 700Nm.

That’s all the wellness we need.

There’s also heated and ventilated rear seats, more deeply contoured front seats, a sports steering wheel with splashes of grippy microfibre, stainless steel pedals, open-pore black wood trim and an 80-litre fuel tank to give you more hydrocarbons to burn.

On the off chance that still doesn’t satisfy your taste for opulence and excess, the Mercedes-Maybach S650 is ready and waiting for you – provided you have the $425,000 necessary to park one on your manor’s driveway.

For your spend, the Maybach provides a 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V12 with 463kW and a colossal 1000Nm. However the Maybach’s prodigious torque output mandates a seven-speed auto, rather than the nine-speeder used across the rest of the range.

There’s a 24-speaker Burmester stereo, microfibre-upholstered roof liner, high-end nappa leather upholstery, polished 20-inch alloys and plenty of Maybach badging to remind you that you’re in the top-tier Benz.

All 2018 S-Classes also get revised active steering assist and active cruise control software to provide more progressive intervention, while there’s even a feature that prepares your hearing for the anticipated accident noise when a collision is deemed imminent. Does your plebeian automobile do that? Didn’t think so.