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Maybach at the crossroads (2007)
By
Georg Kacher
Spy shots
20 March 2007 12:14
Maybach: hit or flop?
Maybach is going back to the drawing board to fix sluggish sales. The true sales figures for the Maybach brand have over the past 18 months become one of the best-kept corporate secrets at DaimlerChrysler. On the internet, there are currently 60 new and used cars being advertised across Europe - among them a barely run-in ’06 model with 5000 miles on the clock offered at a 55 percent discount. According to trade estimates, last year’s production totalled a rather pathetic 280 units. Had the Maybach adventure not been quietly absorbed by the overall balance sheet of the Mercedes Car Group when the marque was launched, annual losses would by now be little short of frightening. But as things stand, chairman Dieter Zetsche can safely maintain that ‘every Maybach sold is earning money.’ At this disappointing level, however, it seems almost impossible to justify any further investments. ‘I disagree,’ says Dr Z. ‘On the contrary: I would like to confirm that there will be a new Maybach.’ So, as you read this, engineers are plotting a new raft of Maybach models.
So what’s Maybach going to do next?
With the 57/62 pegged at only 175 units per year by 2010, Maybach is light years behind Rolls-Royce (3000 cars by then) and Bentley (10,000 cars in three years’ time). Despite this dramatic lack of demand, DC’s hardcore brand specialists will do what they can to nurse the fickle flame. One senior Maybach official told CAR Online: ‘The Excelero show car did more for us than all the tweaks to the 57/62 series combined. It’s an open secret that the four-door Ocean Drive convertible started life as a Maybach, but then we got cold feet and turned it into a Merc. In the not too distant past, we presented to our management a couple of promising concepts, among them a pillarless four-seater luxury coupe with rear suicide doors. But at the moment, most of our work is unfortunately undercover - you just can’t fire thousands at Chrysler and at the same time spend millions on a new Maybach.’ And he confirmed that the look of the Maybach is one of its biggest problems. ‘Although it took a while to sink in, everyone involved knows now that it’s not the brand which is at fault. It’s the current product in general and the design in particular.’
