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.
