Benz ends Maybach

Mercedes-Benz is set to conclude its decade-long experiment in extending the brand with the news that the Maybach range will not continue in production beyond 2013.

It was first reported last week by Automotive News Europe that the projected 2014 models had been cancelled by Daimler CEO Dr Dieter Zetsche. The ultra-luxurious car, based on the W220 S-Class platform was Benz's in-house competitor for the revitalised Rolls-Royce (under BMW ownership) and Bentley (from the Volkswagen stable).

Manager of Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz Australia, Jerry Stamoulis, explained to motoring.com.au this morning that the Maybach, which has sold roughly 3000 units around the world since its original launch, is expected to be replaced by upscale variants of the next S-Class, due for release in 2013.

"[Mercedes-Benz] still has orders that will take them well into next year," Stamoulis said. "If anyone still wants to order a Maybach after that, they'll still be producing them until the new S-Class arrives in 2013."

"There will be a number of new variants of S-Class — but there will definitely be a variant of S-Class that will cater for Maybach customers."

According to Stamoulis, the Maybach has sold relatively well in the US — and particularly New York, where the company sells a hundred units a year. In Australia, where the chauffeur-driven market is different, the company sold just 13 units since the Maybach's local launch in 2004.

Stamoulis argues that the question of profitability for the Maybach brand hinges on two counterbalancing points: sales volume and per-unit price. With Maybach buyers typically ordering customised models direct from the factory, there was always a fair amount of profit built into each car sold. Furthermore, many of the parts used in the Maybach models were amortised in other Benz models. But ultimately the luxury brand failed to meet the company's sales expectations.

The end of the Maybach brand points to a view within Daimler AG that the company can achieve similar results with the expanded S-Class range — up to perhaps six new variants. And it's rumoured too that among the new S-Class variants will be one that revives the Pullman name.

"What we're doing with our products, moving forward — this is what has brought on the end of Maybach," says Stamoulis. "Because if we thought Maybach was going to be an issue — three or four years ago — then it would have been brought forward, as a failure. But it has actually been planned to end as we expand the S-Class range."

Stamoulis admits that globally, Maybach customers will lose some of the service experience that went with the brand, but in the same breath, Benz will ramp up the sales and service experience for S-Class buyers in response.

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