Mercedes-Benz toy cars and diecast scale models

Mercedes has the deepest catalogue of any marque in diecast, so we do not try to carry all of it. We look for three things: cars people in India see and want, cars that are historically important, and cars that translate well to a model. The G-Wagon Brabus scores on all three, which is why it is the best-selling Mercedes here and why we keep it in 1:24 at all times. The W140 S-Class scores on nostalgia alone, and it stays in stock because the people who remember it buy it on sight.

What we pass on: models with a plastic bonnet that does not open, and anything where the three-pointed star is printed flat rather than fitted as a separate part. On a Mercedes the badge is the first thing the eye lands on, and a printed star lets the whole model down.

The 1936 500K Special Roadster and the 1954 300SL Gullwing are the pre-modern classics and the two most detailed Mercedes we sell; the 300SL's roof-hinged doors are the feature every visitor asks to see. The W140 S-Class and the AMG GT-R Safety Car cover the 1990s and 2010s. From the current range there is the W223 S-Class with its rear-seat screens modelled, the Maybach GLS 600, the GLC and the SLS AMG with its own gullwing doors. The AMG ONE, the road car built around a Formula 1 power unit, is the flagship of the 1:18 shelf. And the Formula 1 side is covered by Lewis Hamilton's W15 and W14 in Bburago's licensed 1:43.

The grille. Modern Mercedes grilles are complex, with the star either set into a horizontal bar or, on AMG models, the vertical Panamericana slats. A good model moulds the slats as a separate chromed part; a poor one prints them. The interior on the S-Class and Maybach should show the wide screen across the dash. On the G-Wagon, the spare wheel cover on the rear door should be a separate part and the side-exit exhausts on the Brabus should be chromed tubes, not moulded bumps.