Maybach name to live on in S-Class

When Daimler killed off its top-shelf Maybach brand last year it was assumed the German car-maker’s Rolls-Royce competitor would be gone for good. But we need not have feared.

Although the Maybach name will no longer represent a stand-alone brand it will feature as part of the naming convention for the upcoming extended long-wheelbase version of the S-Class, one of a total of six variants of the range-topping Mercedes model.

Speaking at a press gathering at the Geneva motor show today, Mercedes-Benz S-Class Chief Engineer, Dr Hermann-Joseph Storp, told motoring.com.au the Maybach badge would join that of the usual ‘S’ designation in the next iteration of the growing portfolio.

“Dieter Zetsche talked about, in Frankfurt, six different versions of the S-Class. The short version, the longer version as we have launched already, and then we will have the next longer version, and that will get in addition the name S-Class Maybach,” said Dr Storp.

“There will [also] be a sixth version, a highly protected car like the Pullman, [while] the fifth version could be a station wagon [or] it could be a convertible.”

Checking with his minders, Dr Storp stopped short of saying just how much longer the extended long-wheelbase S-Class Maybach will be, and likewise would not be persuaded to give further details on the ‘station wagon’ or ‘convertible’ variant.

He did, however, assure us the model would not be a four-door convertible like the Ocean Drive concept shown at the 2007 Detroit motor show, indicating instead that a drop-top version of the newly released S-Class Coupe is far more likely.

“Ocean Drive was one discussion we showed [and] many people were affected by this idea,” he said. “If we were going to develop a convertible, it couldn’t be in such a big size. It would be in the S-Class size, [and] two doors.”

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