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<\/a><\/p>\nWith all that excitement, Maybach, it seems, could be poised for a resurgence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a restart,\u201d Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius says during an interview in Monaco on May 18. \u201cThis is the rejuvenation of the Maybach brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Try, Try Again<\/strong><\/p>\n Named after Wilhelm Maybach, a prolific engine designer and one of Gottlieb Daimler\u2019s earliest collaborators, and founded with his son Karl in 1909, Maybach grew synonymous at the time with speed, power, and prestige.<\/p>\n By 1921, it was making cars like the 5-meter-long Maybach 22\/70 HP W3 and the opulent Maybach SW 42, which featured such novelties as electrically operated windows.<\/p>\n After World War II, during which Maybach produced most of the engines for Nazi Germany\u2019s tanks, the company continued making diesel engines, but infighting and disorganization caused it to implode. In 1960, Daimler-Benz AG acquired Maybach Motorenbau GmbH mostly to own the rights to the engines.<\/p>\n In 1997, after decades of dormancy, Mercedes presented a Maybach concept at the Tokyo Motor Show and said it would produce a pair of Maybach-branded sedans within the next five years.<\/p>\n The Maybach 52 and the Maybach 62 arrived in 2002, but the cars looked bloated and self-serious, and the brand later admitted it had lost $439,000 on each of the cars it sold.<\/p>\n In 2011, Daimler announced it would sell off the remaining models, effectively tranquilizing Maybach for the time being. The signature two-tone saloons entered a long hibernation from relevancy since Jay-Z and Kanye West featured a dismembered 2004 Maybach 57 in the video for their song Otis in 2011.<\/p>\n Then came the latest shift. Mercedes revived the Maybach badge at the 2014 Los Angeles auto show with the new Mercedes-Maybach nameplate, essentially a rebadged version of the Mercedes S600 flagship sedan.<\/p>\n These modern Mercedes-Maybach vehicles were designed primarily for chauffeured trips and came cocooned so densely in creature comforts they feel closer to the business suite of a private jet than a car.<\/p>\n Fully reclining seats, beverage chillers, retractable work tables, and DJ-caliber headphones for the entertainment system are de rigueur.<\/p>\n Since then, sales have steadily risen. Last year, Mercedes-Maybach sold 15,730 units worldwide, up 50% from 2020 and boosted primarily by China, where its cars sell at a rate of more than 900 a month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe brand is doing fantastic,\u201d says Daniel Lescow, the new head of Maybach, during dinner in Monaco on May 17. \u201cThere is so much potential. We spend zero media money on it.\u201d While he declined to talk specifically about order rates on the newest Maybach vehicles, he characterized them as \u201cin high demand.\u201d<\/p>\n Shock Tactics<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybach says it has a plan to conjure something that will appeal to the world\u2019s moneyed class even if it can\u2019t draw from an esteemed (or, at least, consistent) pedigree. First, it keeps the cars just out of reach. \u201cThe purpose of Maybach is not to churn out new models even every year,\u201d Kaellenius says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep it special. Lower volume, discerning customers. Every now and then, we will sprinkle the Maybach manufacturer brand on top of a few [Mercedes] products.\u201d<\/p>\n And then it punches you in the nose. Stylistically speaking, of course.<\/p>\n The Mercedes-Maybach Haute Voiture, so named after a play on haute couture and the French word for \u201ccar,\u201d is a prime example. The white faux-fur mats that line its floors are so long and shaggy Penny Lane herself would approve.<\/p>\n The rose gold studs lining the arctic white seats and matching Champagne flutes in the rear recall the visual cues of a bridal shower brunch. Intricate stitching across niveous leather seats and Maybach logos festooned across the car scream for attention like a teenager on a sugar high.<\/p>\n Proudly unapologetic? That\u2019s the whole idea.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSome people may say it\u2019s terrible, but that is exactly what we should do as a luxury brand\u2014it\u2019s a shock,\u201d says Steffen K\u00f6hl, the director of advanced exterior design during an interview at Mercedes\u2019s design studio in Nice, France. \u201cDisruptiveness and contradiction are a source of creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n The shock comes as much from the size and price of the vehicle as it does from all of the extra cosmetic and personalization options available. A Mercedes-Maybach S-Class starts at $185,000\u2014$74,000 more than the regular S-Class. And it\u2019s bigger. Maybach sedans offer a wheelbase 18 centimeters (7.1 inches) longer than that of the standard S-Class.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybach wants to express wealth through footprint, how big the object is,\u201d says Frank Stephenson, a Moroccan-born American automobile designer who\u2019s worked for BMW, Mini, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren. \u201cIt\u2019s almost cartoonish.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question such pizzazz helps ensure the cars appeal to Chinese buyers, who tend to pay for more outr\u00e9 designs and skew far younger in age and far wealthier in pocketbook than do the consumers of Mercedes vehicles.<\/p>\n The average age of a Maybach buyer in China is mid-40s, and across the brand it\u2019s largely under 50, which is younger than the average Mercedes buyer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chinese market is a younger market, which is not bashful about showing its wealth, and the Maybach certainly does that,\u201d Stephenson says.<\/p>\n \u201cThey tend to have a disproportionate sort of demonstration of wanting to show their wealth\u2014and it\u2019s garish. There are a large number of people there who would order a Maybach with gold wheels on it, if they could, or in all gold plate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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