Move over Maybach, the Metropolis rolls into the 2010 Expo

You don't need to be a car enthusiast to love luxury on four wheels, which is why eyes are again on the Chinese car industry as Citroën unveils the Metropolis, the first car totally designed at PSA Peugeot-Citroën’s design studio in Shanghai. The concept car will bypass the Beijing Motor Show and be on display at the French Pavilion during the Shanghai 2010 Expo.

Launching in one of the fastest growing luxury market, the new limousine-type car has chosen the perfect country -- and cities -- to make its debut.

And when we say “limousine-type” car, that might be an understatement. The Metropolis is almost the size of a city block at 5.3 meters long and two meters wide. For those keeping tabs, that’s longer than the Mercedes S-Class and wider than a Maybach, according to Autoblog.

Although simply being wider than a Maybach might awe some, real car enthsiasts will be be looking out for the more technical stats. Since this is a PSA car, if you’re expecting a hybrid, then you’re right on the money. This plug-in hybrid has a “2.0-liter V6 under the hood mated to an electric motor,” says Autoblog, “that together can vary its combined output from 272 horsepower all the way up to 460, driving all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.” Metropolis also only produces 70g of carbon dioxide per kilometer, “approximately 20 percent that of a conventional engine with equivalent performance,” according to Eurotuner, which outlines many of the cars more technical features.

All sounds great, but what we want to know is, will they let us take it for a test drive?