Daimler — the parent company of Mercedes-Benz — will make a decision whether to continue with its ultra-luxury Maybach brand within the next two years, a new report finds. Daimler revived the Maybach brand in 2001 to compete with the likes of Rolls-Royce, but slow sales has the German company reconsidering Maybach’s future.
Maybach sales have been slow since the brand’s re-launch and Daimler only managed to sell 146 Maybach vehicles in 2007, about a tenth of the sales originally predicted for the marque. Since 2001, 40 percent of Maybach dealers have shut their doors.
According to the CarConnection, Daimler CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche has admitted that there are no future Maybach models in the works. The Maybach 63 and 57 — which are largely based on the last-generation Mercedes S-Class — have continued on relatively unchanged since their launch and the limited-edition Landaulet isn’t expected to bolster sales.
Zetsche admits that Daimler has “not decided yet” if Maybach will be the recipient of a new model and says the decision to design a new model or kill the brand entirely will be made within the next two years.
03/17, 1:11 PM
posted by:
Madcapp
Brilliant idea, that car was a massive snoozefest, from another mis-managed Mercedes-Benz brand.
03/17, 1:20 PM
posted by:
RSPINAJR
Change the looks and expand the line – spend money to make money!!!
03/17, 1:21 PM
posted by:
sunshine1810
The problem with the Maybach is that it looks to much like an S-Class.
03/17, 1:26 PM
posted by:
vLane
The concept of Maybach: take a $148,000 car, jack the price to $340,000, style it to look exactly like an S-class, and slap a name on it no one born after World War I would recognize.
Gee, wonder why it didn’t work.
03/17, 1:28 PM
posted by:
S o c i a l i s m
Mercedes Benz is so retarded.
03/17, 1:30 PM
posted by:
A4
yeah exactly, S-class for double the price. Give rich folk the Excelero concept and youre orders will quadruple.
03/17, 2:02 PM
posted by:
Stinky007
MB is “enjoying” the benefits of trying to “expand” their lines into “new markets”.
The first A-Class was a image disaster, the R-Class is a useless beached whale nobody bought anywhere, and the Maybach is just an overpriced S-Class that only an idiot would buy over the Rolls Royce Phantom or even Bentley Flying Spur!
Wake up car manufacturers! Stop ****ing around with profits and get back to do what you each do best!
03/17, 2:08 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
The few Maybachs that I saw were very nice. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out for MB. But I must admit, I would never flag down a Maybach and ask to borrow their Grey Poupon.
03/17, 2:30 PM
posted by:
BlackX
Maybach is just a streched S class with more toys. Phantom is the only truly luxury car.
03/17, 2:43 PM
posted by:
Pro_Lapse
Maybachs have no class, any one with this kind of money is going to buy a Phantom. The Excelero looked like a Hyundai built for Batman.
It must really hurt Mercedes-Benz that BMW got it so right with Rolls-Royce.
03/17, 2:44 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
They just can’t compete against Rolls-Royce, the King of luxury, it’s as simple as that.
03/17, 3:06 PM
posted by:
E60M5
The Maybach is more than a stretched S class with some toys. It like a private jet in there but it IS like some of you have mentioned, a stretched S class with some pretty good toys and its totally pointless. The Phantom sells is much greater numbers and is obviously the better car and the one i’d buy. If you want a Maybach 57 just buy an S63 and if you want a 62, buy an S600L and equip it with some toys by ticking every box possible. Simple as that gents
03/17, 4:04 PM
posted by:
SS4LIFE
Maybachs are very nice, problem is seeing that they are just as expensive (and more) as Rolls Royces, and Bentleys, and even your totally priced out Mercedes and BMW’s the Maybach certainly does offer more then their competition and is the total car to be driven around in I’m not surprised because these just aren’t high volume sellers of course. They are for the ultra rich. And unlike their counterpart, Rolls Royce and Bentley offer different models, 2dr coupes, convertibles and sedans, which certainly helps drive more revenue. Besides seeing one at the autoshows, my boss’s neighbor owns a Maybach 62 and I see it occasionally parked outisde their house (usually in the 3 car garage) or parked outside the club.
03/17, 5:16 PM
posted by:
kgm777
The Maybach is a very nice car, but it’s no RR Phantom. Maybe if MB lowered the price to about 1/2 to 2/3 of the Phantom’s, it would work. Better yet, sell everything to VW so they can market it as the new Phaeton. What, you don’t want to wait behind 10 Beetles and Rabbits to get your Phaeton into the service department? Why not? If this were East Berlin, you’d be waiting behind smoke-belching pea green Trabants!
03/17, 5:20 PM
posted by:
gbb
Yawn…………..
03/17, 5:45 PM
posted by:
E60M5
SS4LIFE, it’s not that they’re expensive i mean they cost almost the same and anyone who can afford a Phantom surely wouldnt mind spending the extra 50k or whatever to get the Maybach. The Maybach doesnt sell because its overpriced and no one wants a 400k S class when a normal S class is 100k
03/17, 9:03 PM
posted by:
audi-lover
SWEEEEEEEEET
I hate Maybach
03/17, 10:36 PM
posted by:
RLC
Ugh. Maybach – a study in vulgarity.
03/18, 2:46 AM
posted by:
V2
kill this thing off………………..
03/18, 4:47 AM
posted by:
peter g
Put it out of it’s misery.
03/18, 6:39 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
A Maybach pulled up behind me in the local car wash. I chatted with the hired driver for a good 20 minutes about it and got in to check it out. I can’t say it’s anything more than a stretched S-class at a $200,000 premium. Big ****ing waste of money.
03/19, 11:38 PM
posted by:
rerone
It’s funny to remember that the Mercedes Maybach concept appeared at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show and stole the show. Just remember at that time Rolls Royce was still using an outdated late 70’s design. VW and BMW had not even thought about trying to buy RR. I think the current marketing disaster could have been avoided by simply making the Maybach as an exclusive Mercedes Benz model instead of attempting to create a new brand. Also at a much lower price point. I have to say that the Maybach I sat in was in another realm from an S-class. I felt like I was in a giant jewelry case. The paint was the mirror quality of a Boyd Coddington Custom, absolutely no orange peel or texture. I’ve never seen a Mercedes with that kind of finish.