End of the road for super luxury Maybach

By Reino Gevers Dec 7, 2011, 4:06 GMT

Stuttgart - Daimler has finally pulled the plug on the super luxury Maybach sedan after the famous name was revived almost a decade ago by the car maker to compete in the high-end segment dominated by Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

Daimler's CEO Dieter Zetsche conceded in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last week that 'it would not be sensible to develop a successor model for the current Maybach.'

Production of the current Maybach 57 and 62 would cease in 2013 with the concern instead deciding to extend the S-Class Mercedes range, Zetsche said.

That ends an experiment that started with much glitz and glamour ten years ago with Daimler investing some one billion euros (1.4 billion dollars) in the ultra-luxury brand. But instead of selling a projected 1,000 vehicles a year at prices of around 300,000 euros a unit, the car maker could only sell some 200 vehicles worldwide annually, according to market experts.

Maybach was originally founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son in 1909, with the company initially producing engines for Zeppelins. The first car, the Maybach WI, celebrated its debut in 1919. Later the more opulent Maybach DS7, produced between 1928 and 1930, made a name for itself in a class of its own. It featured a 7.0-litre V12 engine with an output of 150 hp.

With Daimler owning the name rights to Maybach, a Mercedes-Maybach concept car was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1997. However Daimler decided later to produce the car under its own Maybach label, harking back to the historic roots of the famous name.

But Daimler never managed to really differentiate the Maybach from its own luxury S-Class division with the S-Class in fact sharing many components and other systems of the much more expensive Maybach. While the S-Class underwent several design changes and makeovers over the past ten years, the Maybach only underwent minor refinements to its basic design while extra luxury special equipment options were added.

Rumours have been circulating for some time that Daimler would pull the plug on the Maybach, especially after the economic downturn in 2008. Inconclusive talks were apparently held with British sports car maker Aston Martin.