All Entries Tagged With: "62"

Maybach Lives! Forbes Reveals US Sales Figures

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Maybach USA

TUCKED inside yet another in-this-economy-would-you-believe? article in Forbes, reporter Hannah Elliott revealed a choice factoid about Maybach Manufactur that’s been conspicuously absent  for some time.

Namely, 2009 Maybach sales figures.

Daimler, AG press releases (in)famously lump Maybach sales in with Benz S-Class and SL-Class stats; perpetuating blogosphere urban legend that snarkly suggests Maybach hasn’t actually sold any cars in some time.

Some unconfirmed reports indicated that Maybach may have sold a total of 300 units worldwide in 2008; down by 50% from the division’s initial high of around 600 following the 2002 launch.

However, if Ms. Elliott’s fact finding proves accurate, we now know that not only is Daimler’s super luxury patient very much alive… it is, in fact, breathing on its own!

The number speaks volumes:

“Daimler’s Maybach, with no new models planned for 2010, sold only 57 vehicles in the U.S. through November.”

Only fifty-seven 57s, 62s, and dictatorial Landaulets?

In the super luxury world of $340K+ chariots, that ain’t bad. If true, that would mean gross US sales of roughly $20 million.

Granted, rival Rolls-Royce sold Americans six times as many Phantoms last year. And we still must ask whether $20 million+ in North American sales is enough to float Daimler’s land yacht subsidiary…

Likely not. And lest Maybach buck its downward sales trend, 2010 could be the marque’s final year.

But eight years after Maybach’s splashy NYC-Cunard launch, and (dare I mention?) in this economy, that Maybach USA moved as many units as it did last year is quite encouraging.

Thanks, Max!

“Mercedes Maybach”

Might it have been the 62S?

By Gunnar Heinrich

WEDGED somewhere between accounts of Silvio Berlusconi’s feminine cohorts and Christopher Hitchens’ take on Monty Python, Vanity Fair posted one of the mag’s signature profiles on Wallis Annenberg, socialite-philanthropist-Maybach owner.

Here’s how VF described Ms. Annenberg, her canine compatriots, and her car:

“Reportedly worth $200 million herself, she is sitting in the backseat of her chauffeured Mercedes Maybach, along with her three Maltese- Muffet, Switters, and Coco.”

VF didn’t publish pictures of the Maybach (hopefully two-toned) nor did they account for whether the German limo was a 62, 62S, Zeppellin or 57, etc.

And why would they? What do any of those numbers mean, truly, to their core readership?

Referring to an S-Class Mercedes or a Mercedes SL, on the other hand, would register with far more people. So too, likely, for Maybach’s main competition – the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Tellingly the story’s scribe, Bob Colacello, used “Mercedes” as the qualifier for “Maybach”. Indeed, what après tous would the designator “600″ have meant without the prefix “Mercedes-Benz”?

So, too, for Maybach. All these years later.

Maybach Idles

Zeppelin.

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler, AG

WERE it not for music videos, Punk’d, and the Robb Report earlier this decade, mentioning the name “Maybach”  would’ve  registered with the American car buyer as strongly as it would’ve when citing those other high-brow notables Auto Union and Lagonda.

That is to say, it would’ve barely made a dent.

Certainly, the Maybach 62′s launch created a small media frenzy when it sailed into New York harbor aboard a Cunard ship in 2002. It was then positioned as DaimlerChrysler’s halo marque, a tribute to bespoke motoring that would carry the best technological and engineering facets of Mercedes-Benz forward into a ultra exclusive heir apparent to the (W100) 600.

But that media buzz had its fifteen. Depreciation has hit the marque as well as used car residuals. Daimler rivals Audi-VW and BMW are forging ahead with Bentley and Rolls-Royce, respectively. Poor Maybach, with all its lore, is left in the dust.

If you perform a Google search using the keywords “Maybach club” or “Maybach car club”, you get paid-for adlinks to Inside Line and your local Mercedes-Benz dealer. The M-100 club, a group of 600, 300SEL 6.3 and 450SEL 6.9 owners certainly haven’t extended their role to including Maybach 57 owners.

So there’s no fan base, official or otherwise. The sales numbers are too low. The clientele too rarefied or secretive. The Zeppelin, which debuted in Frankfurt, is a 57S (or 62S) that features a tweaked engine, a perfumed cabin air atomizer, and dark wood paneling.

This all leads us to ask: how long will Daimler let this noble marque idle?