Monday 28th November 2011

RIP Maybach

Daimler boss puts axe to luxury brand

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After an unsuccessful attempt to take on Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Daimler is to close down its Maybach luxury brand.

We've known for a while the fate of the Maybach brand has been hanging in the balance, but it had been thought the badge would be demoted to a sub-brand or possibly given a second-generation version in partnership with Aston Martin.

Neither of those options appear to have come to fruition, however, and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has told German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that "it would not be sensible to develop a successor model for the current Maybach".

Instead (and having reputedly spent a billion euros on Maybach), Daimler will likely turn to Mercedes and create a new flagship model for the three-pointed star that will cost 100,000-300,000 euros.

Originally, Daimler envisaged 1,000 examples of the quarter-million pound Maybach, but only managed to shift around 200 a year.

[WCZ]

[sday12]

Oh...dear...

[The Jolly Todger]

I saw two on Friday, thought they looked pretty good. Not a news story that will affect too many of us though.

[J B L]

Good news about developing higher specs Mercs IMO but it's always a shame to see a brand disappear.

I would have thought China could have the salvation of Maybach.

[Itsallicanafford]

..good SOTW potential....in 2045?

[k-ink]

God they were ugly! No real loss.

[Twincam16]

Is this any great loss though? I'm pretty sure you could release the exact same car with a Mercedes grille and badge and it would be held in much higher regard, which sounds like what they're going to do anyway. The whole Maybach revival seemed to be an exercise in pretentious vulgarity, especially when they already made the best car in its class (the S-class), which sold to the similar people.

[Mr Gear]

I don't think anyone will miss it: most people after a luxury Merc will buy a luxury Merc... not a Maybach.

They look too incongruous anyway. They are not much more regal-looking than a Lexus or a (shock-horror) Hyundai anyway:

[Ex Boy Racer]

Well... when Woolworths went, I knew Maybach couldn't be far behind....

[Mr Gear]

Ex Boy Racer said:

Well... when Woolworths went, I knew Maybach couldn't be far behind....

Maybach... available in all good branches of Woolworths this Christmas.

[dave stew]

Itsallicanafford said:

..good SOTW potential....in 2045?

Probably 2015!

[gherkins]

Close the door on your way out!

Perhaps they're good cars, but they look like bigger and uglier Mercs. If I spent that money on a car, I would want it either:

1) to look incredibly good, or
2) have a regal air that makes the plebs get out of the way.

Maybachs look like an enlarged Stuttgart taxi.

[Volvo360]

They always looked like old Hyundai Sonatas to me.

Like this one:



Can't say I'm overly fussed. And I'd rather be seen in the Sonata frankly.

Edited by Volvo360 on Monday 28th November 13:10

[900T-R]

Shame about the brand but Mercedes should have known better than to stick it on uglified, lengthened old-school S-class limos (apparently the 57 and 62 are based on the 1991 W140 Dicker Bertha underneath, rather than the 1998 or 2005 S-Class generations).

In the old days the African/South American dictator market (previously a stronghold of 600 sales) might have been lucrative enough for such a venture, but I bet the remaining few would be embarrassed to be ferried around in these...

[Dr Interceptor]

If I was spending £250,000 on a super luxury car, I'd want it to have the Spirit of Ecstacy flying on top of the radiator.

The Phantom was always the Maybachs biggest problem.

[PaulMoor]

Until now I was not aware of the Maybach Landaulet... Why God Why? After an abomonation like that I say good riddance.

[HeMightBeBanned]

Dr Interceptor said:

The Phantom was always the Maybachs biggest problem.

I think that the Maybach's biggest problem came from close to home. Many reviews of the Maybach that I read said that they couldn't see the point of paying such a huge premium over an S-Class, as the Maybach was not obviously better and came from the same stable as the über-Merc.

[Frimley111R]

What a shame, they were my favourite Hyundais.

[moskvich427]

I'd buy this, fit steel wheels to it, drive it every day and never wash it.

Very cool run-about!

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3230217.htm

[iain1970]

If I was spending that kind of money on a Mercedes that wasn't a Mercedes, I'd expect it not to look like a Mercedes, if you know what I mean.