The day has come, Maybach brand will be ceased again! I was expecting to hear this news for half a decade. Maybach lost its stamina when Rolls Royce revealed the new Phantom in 2003, it was very clear that Maybach was going to suffer. I knew that Maybach will struggle to keep up with Rolls Royce but, I never thought that, it would be this worse.
Maybach brand was ceased in 1945 and reborn in 2002 based on the concept vehicle, which was revealed in 1997. It was based on the previous generation S-Class; the chassis, electronic, instrument panels, some of the interior design. However, it was built in a perfect harmony, which hinders the bits from the old S-Class. And I had chance to see this in 2004 in Ankara, Turkey. It was one of the unique moments, which I will never ever forget. It was one of the most expensive cars for its era and it was standing in front me.
Unfortunately, Maybach never achieved to be exclusive like the Rolls Royce, Mercedes brand was more powerful than the Maybach, and it hindered its performance. Everyone associated the Maybach with Mercedes S-Class; they had too much in common. And in 2006, Mercedes revealed the new S-Class with more technology and quality which is quite close to Maybach. Then, the Maybach’s technologies became outdated! Its features, buttons, dot matrix screen was out of date! New S-Class offered more technology and similar comfort with lower price. And world economy crashed in 2008, Maybach lost its potential customers as well! Catastrophe did not stop, Rolls Royce extended the product range with more competitive vehicles, Bentley was selling 10,000 per year. Maybach was struggling to save it business!
The rumours started, Aston Martin will design the next generation and it will be built in UK! But, I never gave a chance to this project. Mercedes will sell a car that is manufactured by Aston Martin! It would be a shame for the brand, everyone knows that Mercedes has the highest technology for manufacturing. So, this project was cancelled last year.
And all the unfortunate incident made the Maybach brand closer to end! In 2007, I wrote a paper about the future of Maybach and shared with Mercedes. They respected my work but, did not say anything about the future. I predicted this end but I thought it would not happen.
However, the extremely slow sales figure and being outdated by Bentley, Rolls Royce, S-Class and its competitors made it closer to cease the brand. And last week, Daimler AG announced that Maybach will be ceased in early 2013. Their future strategy is to use Maybach brand as a luxury option for S-Class and other high-end models to offer more luxury. I think this is the best way to cease Maybach brand.
Lastly, why Maybach failed? If you want to know this answer, just look at a Rolls Royce and a Maybach. Rolls Royce as tall as a basketball player and offers a state-of-art way to get into vehicle with an excellent convenient way. And look at Maybach, you know lower your body to get inside a Maybach.
Rolls Royce is adapted for us, but Maybach asks us to adapt ourselves.
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