What is half a million dollars in the Singapore context? Apparently it's not that big a deal if you happen to be one of the hundreds of people who have booked the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, reported The Business Times. Daimler South-East Asia, the distributor of Mercedes-Benz, would not confirm the number, but it is understood that close to 400 orders have been taken for the latest version of its flagship luxury limousine.

To be launched to 1,000 guests here tomorrow, the three available variants for now - the S350 CDI, S400 Hybrid, S500 - are priced approximately between $450,000 and $600,000 (including COE). Interestingly, a surprisingly sizeable number of the higher-end S500 model with a V8 engine has been snapped up - one quarter of all bookings compared to less than 10 percent previously.

"This group of customers has seen their wealth grow exponentially because of asset inflation, so $500,000 is not considered a major expense. But not only Singaporeans have benefited; it's a worldwide phenomenon," said one observer.

In its run-out year this year, the S-Class notched up sales of only 88 units in the first nine months, compared with its traditional rival, the BMW 7 Series, of which 209 units were registered in the same period, while the corresponding figure for the Audi A8 was 38 units. Last year, about 350 units of the S-Class were sold, and at its peak, this outgoing model racked up sales of 850 units in 2007, one year after its launch.