You're right - and therein lies the problem with "Option #2."

Sure, Maybach can be revitalized with a new line of models that bare no resemblance to their Mercedes cousins, but the cat is already out of the bag. The problem is that Maybach launched with its left foot forward - a car that looked all the world to be an S-Klasse on steroids. Just like hatching ducks taking their first gaze at mother, our impression was set: Maybach is Mercedes deluxe.

So if you were sitting on the BOD at Mercedes and were given two options, which one would you take:

1 - "Redeploy your troops" - Roll ultra-premium Maybach development efforts into your existing multibillion dollar Mercedes franchise creating a brand-wide halo that will be worth its weight in PR gold and will likely create an real impact on sales of volume product.

OR

2 - "Victory is the only option" - Spend copious amounts of money developing and expanding the Maybach range in an effort to change opinions and generate new sales despite the probability that the investment will never be recouped.

I think the ovbious answer is #1 - and we can be almost certain that the decision has already been made, since the Ocean Drive concept was shown under the Mercedes badge. From a dealer diplomacy point of view, Mercedes should repurpose the existing Maybach showrooms by turning them into "Mercedes Premiere" or something to that effect. Mercedes could pump some marketing juice into an effort like BMW Individual, and could expand the range of options (and boost the bottom line) for ultra-premium models like the Ocean Drive.

It's the smart move and one I expect to see in the near future.

I agree with you Osnabrueck, Maybach as an independant brand is dead. The Ocean Drive branded Mercedes is an obvious signal...

Maybach was created because the ultra-rich would not buy a 400.000$ Mercedes though, too "common" brand... Contrary to Rolls or Bentley. I don't think it has changed.

Maybe yes, because the Ocean Drive had a good impact and people were thinking it's a good idea and a typical Mercedes, like they produced in the 30's. So maybe a Benz would be accepted by the super-richs, then it will be a boost for Merc' image to have such ultra-luxurious models.

I think that if the product is good, it could work.

The Maybach only failed because it is not very sexy, and not bling-bling either. It is purely a design problem, the brand is okay.

The image of Maybach is however done now: bad-looking over-Mercedes... A new product could surely change this. No need to stop that brand...

The reason I see is to polish the Merc' image. They will need a new product for that. It is obviously the Ocean Drive and the mega-CLS...

It would be fabulous to see Mercedes regaining that image of Rolls-fighter producing the best cars in the world, the most exciting and the most expensives too!!

Just imagine: The 300SL Gullwing, the Ocean Drive, a 5.70m CLS... After that the world's best limo...


RIP Maybach...

PS the Maybach will be collector: around 1000 produced, brand stopped after a few years...

Also, Daimler Chrysler were very irritated when Vickers refused to sell Rolls-Royce to them.

VW had Bentley, BMW had Rolls-Royce ...and DCX were not going to be out-done by their rivals. Maybach was created for all the wrong reasons in my opinion -- it never had much substance.

As Mr. Mercedes said in another thread: "DCX was a basket case at the time."

The Maybach "problem" is really just another aspect of the DCX/Schrempp legacy that Zetsche has been left to clean up -- shutting it down is the cleanest and most rational answer if Mercedes is to re-focus itself and get back to doing what it does best.

Great post Rob.

M

Even nowadays, some businessmen who can afford a Mayback think that Mayback is just a brand, even a model of Mercedes.

And was birthed by the same heady .com bubble-madness that gave us the Phaeton. Everbody looked selectively at their charts and graphs and saw that superaffluent discretionary spending was trending to the moon - if you didn't get a piece of this lucrative action you'd be left in the cold, Jack.

I think Maybach could have had a real shot at success if the project had more focus, more capital backing and wasn't a half-cocked effort by folks who simply wanted to be in on the ultra-premium bandwagon. I don't, however, think that Maybach could have been realistically expected to compete on the same level with RR and Bentley overnight.

For me the Maybach just needed an attractive shape to be successfull. It easily could have competed with Rolls. But it has no sex-appeal (the S-versions are better but come too late and don't change enough to make people admit it is good-looking).

The problem is that on the one hand it looks like a big Mercedes, and on the other hand the Mercedes look thousand times better. Even the interior looks like a Mercedes one for the front passengers... (at the back it is another story )...

This is what they should do, and something they should have done from the F__king beginning.

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure about that coolraoul. I mean, if that was true, how the hell did Rolls-Royce stay in business for so long? ....do you think the Phantom has "sex appeal"?

Rolls-Royce's and Bentley's success has a lot more to do with their prestige-value in our global culture -- and that is what Maybach really lacked. It takes much more than an onslaught of marketing to create an aura around a brand. Maybach may be an historic marque, but DCX were essentially working with a blank canvas with its "renaissance".

Yes, this is all true ....and has been a major problem. It was inevitable that people were going to compare the S class with Maybach. I have always found it difficult to understand why DCX made the W221 look like a baby Maybach -- it left little room for the expansion of the Maybach brand into the Bentley Flying Spurs price bracket.

The ODC will definitely kill-off the Maybach brand altogether -- it makes Maybach totally superfluous and unnecessary.

I doubt they will kill off Maybach. Mercedes needs something to compete with Rolls and Bentley. And they can't really hope to do that with Mercedes brand. At this price range, people are paying for exclusivity and I doubt you get that with Mercedes with a zillion E class taxi cabs running around.