CAR-Why Maybach closed: they 'lost €330,000 on each one
02-10-12, 07:10 AM
#1
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CAR-Why Maybach closed: they 'lost €330,000 on each one
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Communi...0-on-each-one/
By Georg Kacher
Analysis
08 February 2012 10:04
After seven years and only 3000 sold units, the Maybach brand will bite the dust in 2013. It its place, Mercedes will challenge Bentley and Rolls Royce with up to seven different luxury cars derived from the next S-class due, you guessed it, in 2013.
What went wrong with Maybach?
Was it the name, the product, the positioning, the price? Short answer: all of the above, and more. The Maybach's homespun design which bumped a few branches on the ugly tree on the way down certainly did not help, and when the new S-class was launched in 2005, the Maybach 57/62 was stuck with the previous platform, with dated electronics and fast-ageing powertrains.
Despite the slow start, Messieurs Hubbert, Schrempp and Zetsche failed to fill the Maybach brand with meaningful content. Instead of receiving the first-ever production fuel-cell, a special halo version of the Bluetec engine family or an early plug-in hybrid system, Maybach never really stood for anything but beautifully executed luxury, conservative styling and debatable social acceptance.
Even though the personal liaison managers who operated out of pompous shop-in-shop lounges rarely sold more than 150 to 300 Maybachs per year, the top management was so busy dealing with other corporate casualties like Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Smart that the only rescue plan they eventually agreed on was a near-instant exit. Click here to read the news of Daimler announcing Maybach's death.
How much money Daimler lost on Maybach
Over time, Daimler sunk €1 billion into its double-M adventure. Despite a lofty list price of between £279,000 and £367,000 in the UK, the car maker lost over €330,000 on every Maybach it sold, CAR has calculated.
The sole significant addition to the range was the mega-expensive Landaulet which found only a handful of takers.
The stillborn Maybachs that could have been
Among the proposals that did not make it to production were a Maybach GL high-end SUV with sleeper seats in row two and a bespoke exterior, an entry-level short-wheelbase Maybach 52 and a four-door Maybach 57 convertible which was turned into the Mercedes Ocean Drive concept at the eleventh hour.
As revealed by CAR, Daimler and Aston Martin did indeed talk about building a new generation of Maybachs and the Aston-designed 57/62 replacement was on the shortlist for 2011's Frankfurt show. An all-new Maybach family would have featured five different amazing bodystyles, according to our sources.
If the latter game plan had materialised, Audi may have relaunched Horch, and BMW would have extended the Rolls-Royce line-up much more aggressively.
But it was not to be. Instead of throwing more good money after bad, Mercedes decided to put Maybach to sleep and to give the three-pointed star a much more ambitious high-end portfolio.
>> Should Daimler have bothered with Maybach? Click 'Add your comment' and sound off
Analysis
08 February 2012 10:04
After seven years and only 3000 sold units, the Maybach brand will bite the dust in 2013. It its place, Mercedes will challenge Bentley and Rolls Royce with up to seven different luxury cars derived from the next S-class due, you guessed it, in 2013.
What went wrong with Maybach?
Was it the name, the product, the positioning, the price? Short answer: all of the above, and more. The Maybach's homespun design which bumped a few branches on the ugly tree on the way down certainly did not help, and when the new S-class was launched in 2005, the Maybach 57/62 was stuck with the previous platform, with dated electronics and fast-ageing powertrains.
Despite the slow start, Messieurs Hubbert, Schrempp and Zetsche failed to fill the Maybach brand with meaningful content. Instead of receiving the first-ever production fuel-cell, a special halo version of the Bluetec engine family or an early plug-in hybrid system, Maybach never really stood for anything but beautifully executed luxury, conservative styling and debatable social acceptance.
Even though the personal liaison managers who operated out of pompous shop-in-shop lounges rarely sold more than 150 to 300 Maybachs per year, the top management was so busy dealing with other corporate casualties like Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Smart that the only rescue plan they eventually agreed on was a near-instant exit. Click here to read the news of Daimler announcing Maybach's death.
How much money Daimler lost on Maybach
Over time, Daimler sunk €1 billion into its double-M adventure. Despite a lofty list price of between £279,000 and £367,000 in the UK, the car maker lost over €330,000 on every Maybach it sold, CAR has calculated.
The sole significant addition to the range was the mega-expensive Landaulet which found only a handful of takers.
The stillborn Maybachs that could have been
Among the proposals that did not make it to production were a Maybach GL high-end SUV with sleeper seats in row two and a bespoke exterior, an entry-level short-wheelbase Maybach 52 and a four-door Maybach 57 convertible which was turned into the Mercedes Ocean Drive concept at the eleventh hour.
As revealed by CAR, Daimler and Aston Martin did indeed talk about building a new generation of Maybachs and the Aston-designed 57/62 replacement was on the shortlist for 2011's Frankfurt show. An all-new Maybach family would have featured five different amazing bodystyles, according to our sources.
If the latter game plan had materialised, Audi may have relaunched Horch, and BMW would have extended the Rolls-Royce line-up much more aggressively.
But it was not to be. Instead of throwing more good money after bad, Mercedes decided to put Maybach to sleep and to give the three-pointed star a much more ambitious high-end portfolio.
>> Should Daimler have bothered with Maybach? Click 'Add your comment' and sound off
02-10-12, 09:42 AM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
They probably wouldn't have lost that kind of money on each car if more of them had been sold. I'm sure a healthy profit for the factory was built into each car between wholesale and retail.....but, of course, enough have to be sold to cover the initial cost of designing and marketing them in the first place.
Unfortunately, the Maybach nameplate, today, just never took off with the kind of publicity or notoriety that Rolls and Bentley have. Rolls and Bentley, of course, also sell convertibles.....a body-style that Maybach lacks. Bentley also furthered its consumer-appeal with the sport-oriented Continental R....another version that Maybach also lacked.
It was not that way, though, a number of decades ago. In the 1930's, though the American Dusenberg (particularly the supercharged SSJ model) was big in Hollywood, Maybach, overall, was considered by many auto-pundits to be the finest-built car in the world.....better than the Rolls. Even today, some 80 years later, well-cared-for surviving Maybachs of that period still operate and drive like new. In Germany, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, and most of Hitler's other ****-henchmen had chauffer-driven Maybachs, though Hitler himself preferred the big Mercedes convertibles.
Unfortunately, the Maybach nameplate, today, just never took off with the kind of publicity or notoriety that Rolls and Bentley have. Rolls and Bentley, of course, also sell convertibles.....a body-style that Maybach lacks. Bentley also furthered its consumer-appeal with the sport-oriented Continental R....another version that Maybach also lacked.
It was not that way, though, a number of decades ago. In the 1930's, though the American Dusenberg (particularly the supercharged SSJ model) was big in Hollywood, Maybach, overall, was considered by many auto-pundits to be the finest-built car in the world.....better than the Rolls. Even today, some 80 years later, well-cared-for surviving Maybachs of that period still operate and drive like new. In Germany, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, and most of Hitler's other ****-henchmen had chauffer-driven Maybachs, though Hitler himself preferred the big Mercedes convertibles.
02-10-12, 10:12 AM
#4
The Maybachs are fantastic cars both to drive & ride in the back. (as long as it's not one of the ugly 2-tone paint models) but at twice the price of a fully loaded S600 the only prospects are people that have more money than they know what to do with & want the prestige the price brings.
02-10-12, 11:04 AM
#6
if MB was smart, they should of re-badge CL, SL, GL, G classes and turn them into maybachs easy. i guess bringing out GLK, C, E class coupes is more important.....if it was any other brand like Toyota, Ford, GM or VW, maybach would have aleast 3 variants of vehicles in there stable.....when not milking of other platforms goes wrong
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02-11-12, 10:26 AM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
What's ugly about 2-tone? Few vehicles even offer true two-tones anymore (minus the plastic-cladding). In some ways, it's a real treat when you still CAN get it. Or, is it just that you specifically dislike the black/maroon two-tone combo that a lot of Maybachs have?
02-11-12, 10:31 AM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
02-11-12, 01:24 PM
#15
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Used 57's can be had for sub 6 figures. That is cheep compared to $300,000. Basically every old merc becomes a classic and has value. Look at how expensive the 600 pullman is.
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