Daimler Mulls Closing the Doors on Maybach

BruceinCary March 17th, 2008 2:44 PM Link

Lets let Peter De Lorenzo give us his opinion on this topic! Run for cover if he does!

Bruce

M. Dillon March 17th, 2008 3:03 PM Link

I have never been a fan of limos;however,the Maybach Landaulete is the kind of car that I could see myself being in.

That car should sell well with the,”I’m rich,and I WANT you to SEE ME being rich”,crowd,lol…

Iain March 17th, 2008 3:11 PM Link

The problem with the Maybach was the new S-class - the Maybach is based on the previous generation S class. The current S-class has way more stuff/technology and is a better drive.

Plus, for those wanting to be ’seen’, a Rolls or Bentley is more distinctive - the Maybach looks like a stretched Hyundai. Yet again, poor product leads to problems for a manufacturer…

Mena March 17th, 2008 3:47 PM Link

What MB should’ve done was offered a special customization program for the S-class.

Paul In Jersey March 17th, 2008 3:59 PM Link

The Maybach isn’t about you, me, or any auto industry journoid. The Maybach is for the super wealthy folks who have a chauffuerrrrr. So what any of us thinks really doesn’t matter. Cost of the car doesn’t matter either because a car like the Maybach is there to cement the relationship between the super wealthy guy and his local Mercedes-Benz & Maybach dealer. Yes, he’ll buy a Maybach, but you can be assured that he’ll probably buy a few other cars, too.

If Daimler made a garbage truck, it would be called the Mon-bach?

94 Taurus owner March 17th, 2008 5:13 PM Link

I say instead of offering four models of one car offer a whole range of cars such as Sedan,coupes,mercedes benz based suv’s.

94 Taurus owner March 17th, 2008 5:14 PM Link

and redo that Ugly slug at the top of the page.

davido March 17th, 2008 5:32 PM Link

It’s difficult to imagine how Daimler could have built a more uninteresting looking car even if that had been it’s goal. Why would people buy this car in the numbers they expected them to when there is nothing distinctive about this car’s styling except its size?

davido March 17th, 2008 5:35 PM Link

Paul,

You seemed to have missed the point of the post when you said,

“The Maybach isn’t about you, me, or any auto industry journoid. The Maybach is for the super wealthy folks who have a chauffuerrrrr. So what any of us thinks really doesn’t matter. Cost of the car doesn’t matter either because a car like the Maybach is there to cement the relationship between the super wealthy guy and his local Mercedes-Benz & Maybach dealer.”

The point of the post is that the car ISN’T selling! So, obviously something matters to the target audience for this car because they aren’t buying them.

Cicero March 17th, 2008 5:53 PM Link

Just does not have the prestige of Rolls Royce or Bentley, it is too bad, they are not bad cars, just do not have a distinctive personality from its Mercedes cousins

bepsf March 17th, 2008 9:40 PM Link

Perhaps if Daimler Benz had designed a car that was unique to Maybach rather than tarted up the 1991-’99 W140 S-Class for the 2002 introduction, Maybach wouldn’t have been a failure.

Then again, maybe it’s the pricing - If these were priced at half the $335K base price for a 57 (or $386,500 for a 62), they might be seen as a value - but there’s no way that these justify a higher base price than a Phantom (a mere $300K).

mbslrm March 18th, 2008 12:33 AM Link

Pricing is a big issue. The Phantom could be had for about 30k cheaper (85k with the 62).

And, if they ever want Maybach to succeed, they need to design a brand new platform for it ground-up and make it exclusive to the Maybach brand. That means no S-Class underpinnings.

BMW has Rolls Royce and they aren’t facing this problem either. The reason why is because Rolls Royce has its own platform for itself. No 7-series underpinnings or something. It’s almost as if Rolls Royce is an independent company.

Trinks March 18th, 2008 1:55 AM Link

Oh no! Whatever will I purchase with my millions of dollars now?!

Cicero March 18th, 2008 3:01 AM Link

mbslm, are you excluding the upcoming “Baby Rolls” that will be using the 7 series platform

CARSON44 March 18th, 2008 1:54 PM Link

I’ve only seen one on the road, that was in Charlotte,NC and it was driven by a person that I was told was a local pro football player. I don’t think this was their target buyer, however he seemed very proud of the car. And I thought it was very nice.
On the other hand if you missed your market by 90% of estimate, how well did you know your market?
They introduced too many “New” things at one time.
The name,Maybach,that looks like it should be pronounced May-Bach, but they tell us no it’s My-Bach. Then there’s the problem that 98% of the people on the planet never heard of a Maybach regardless of their financial status.
Everyone knows what a Mercedes-Benz,a Bently and a Rolls Royce is.
Names are important,certainly they know this better than I ever will.

Mena March 18th, 2008 2:51 PM Link

mbslm, are you excluding the upcoming “Baby Rolls” that will be using the 7 series platform

What better way to bolster the bottom line, hence improving your “real” cars, then using the cash from the wannabe crowd to do it.

mbslrm March 18th, 2008 3:51 PM Link

Cicero: I didn’t know that. Still, BMW has no coupe over $150k, so the ‘baby’ Roller won’t have any competition form BMW or even the BMW group as a whole.

On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz has the CL, SL, and SLR. All very competent cars. For these reasons, Maybach can’t make a coupe with Mercedes-Benz underpinnings.

The same can be said of Bentley. Their coupe offerings face no competition from the VW group. Of course, the only exception is the R8, which is, relatively speaking, a new player.

Ducati Minor March 18th, 2008 7:26 PM Link

You can gloss over the price issue by making the car beautiful. It looks like an S-class and costs a lot more. Any sense? Maybachs were graceful prewar machines. This is the present symbol of German over-engineering and lifeless design.

Greg March 19th, 2008 7:02 PM Link

I think that Maybach should re model there cars into something not only the rich but the other people that cant afford $100,00-200,000 vehicles because that is their downfall. Think about it, they can do it !!!

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