The early demise of Maybach
Last week, Damiler AG closed down the Maybach brand earlier than expected. Having lost $1 billion on a brand that failed to steal market share from Rolls-Royce and Bentley, the company plainly realised waiting until 2013 would not help recoup a single dollar of their investment.
Priced between £279,095 and £367,490, these luxury vehicles failed to capture the imaginations of the rich. Other than Madonna, Samuel L. Jackson and Jay-Z, most found themselves used by hotels and upscale corporations. They were vehicles that had to be chauffeur driven and ones that lacked the versatility of, for example, the Bentley Mulsanne which are as regularly owner driven.
Here, therefore, we feature a picture of a Maybach in a burnt out woodland setting complete with a Lady Gaga lookalike. We declare it The Steeple Times picture of the week.
May the Maybach rest in peace.
Matthew – sadly you forgot to mention ref. the Maybach, that originally the most famous owner of one of these vulgar and vile monsters was Adolf himself, Herr Hitler. You can check out old footage of him being driven around Germany during his tenure, but when he was campaigning, it was normally a Mercedes. I saw pictures of him during a visit to an exhibition in Berlin in 2010, regarding his rise and fall from power and most frequently after having taken power, this was his chosen vehicle. I have also seen one of his Mercedes here at the motor museum in Malaga, another monster albeit fascinating. However, I trust the demise of this particular mark will be soon as it still conjures up horrors of the past as with most German brands? I rest my case.