Maybach may not be back

Mercedes-Benz could be about to admit defeat in the super-luxury battle by killing off its uber-premium brand, Maybach.

Even as the paint is still drying on Rolls-Royce's new Ghost and Bentley's new Mulsanne, a senior Daimler executive has raised the possibility that its Maybach brand may be "abandoned".

Daimler's Vice-President of Design, Gordon Wagener, admitted recently that his department had not yet been asked to sketch design ideas for a new Maybach.

"We have not started to design its replacement, if that's what you are asking me," Wagener admitted.

"That's because we (the board) have not finally decided on how to continue that brand. We could continue with the car we have or create additional cars or even abandon that brand, but we have not made that decision."

While rumours about Maybach's future have circulated for months in the face of poor Daimler financial results, it is the first time a Daimler board member has brought up the possibility that it could walk away from its revival super-luxury contender.

Even if Wagener's team was to begin sketching work tomorrow, normal design timelines would not put a replacement for the current car into production until at least early 2014.

Given that the current Maybach 57 and the longer 62 went on sale in 2002, it's hard to see buyers maintaining interest in the same model for 12 years -- especially when its sales have suffered a serious decline since the global financial crisis.

Maybach has become something of an embarrassment in Stuttgart, and has never reached the heights expected of it. The brand was revived in 2002 in response to a flurry of super-luxury action from its German rivals, with Bentley falling into the Volkswagen Group's hands and BMW taking Rolls-Royce.

Rushed into production, the Maybach was clearly a long-wheelbase version of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but each car took up to seven months to build and cost around three times as much.

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