Maybach lost $500k on each whip they sold

[sportyaccordy]

How does this fit into their H&H... hmmm, something tells me similar overexuberance killed the original brand. I see the connection now

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/08/maybach-lost-upwards-of-500k-on-each-vehicle-sold/

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Community/Car-Magazines-Blogs/Georg-Kacher-Blog/Why-Maybach-closed-Daimler-lost-330000-on-each-one/

Why Maybach closed: Daimler lost ?330,000 on each one

By Georg Kacher

Analysis

08 February 2012 10:04

After seven years and only 3000 sold units, the Maybach brand will bite the dust in 2013. It its place, Mercedes will challenge Bentley and Rolls Royce with up to seven different luxury cars derived from the next S-class due, you guessed it, in 2013.
What went wrong with Maybach?

Was it the name, the product, the positioning, the price? Short answer: all of the above, and more. The Maybach's homespun design which bumped a few branches on the ugly tree on the way down certainly did not help, and when the new S-class was launched in 2005, the Maybach 57/62 was stuck with the previous platform, with dated electronics and fast-ageing powertrains.

Despite the slow start, Messieurs Hubbert, Schrempp and Zetsche failed to fill the Maybach brand with meaningful content. Instead of receiving the first-ever production fuel-cell, a special halo version of the Bluetec engine family or an early plug-in hybrid system, Maybach never really stood for anything but beautifully executed luxury, conservative styling and debatable social acceptance.

Even though the personal liaison managers who operated out of pompous shop-in-shop lounges rarely sold more than 150 to 300 Maybachs per year, the top management was so busy dealing with other corporate casualties like Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Smart that the only rescue plan they eventually agreed on was a near-instant exit. Click here to read the news of Daimler announcing Maybach's death.
How much money Daimler lost on Maybach

Over time, Daimler sunk ?1 billion into its double-M adventure. Despite a lofty list price of between ?279,000 and ?367,000 in the UK, the car maker lost over ?330,000 on every Maybach it sold, CAR has calculated.

The sole significant addition to the range was the mega-expensive Landaulet which found only a handful of takers.
The stillborn Maybachs that could have been

Among the proposals that did not make it to production were a Maybach GL high-end SUV with sleeper seats in row two and a bespoke exterior, an entry-level short-wheelbase Maybach 52 and a four-door Maybach 57 convertible which was turned into the Mercedes Ocean Drive concept at the eleventh hour.

As revealed by CAR, Daimler and Aston Martin did indeed talk about building a new generation of Maybachs and the Aston-designed 57/62 replacement was on the shortlist for 2011's Frankfurt show. An all-new Maybach family would have featured five different amazing bodystyles, according to our sources.

If the latter game plan had materialised, Audi may have relaunched Horch, and BMW would have extended the Rolls-Royce line-up much more aggressively.

But it was not to be. Instead of throwing more good money after bad, Mercedes decided to put Maybach to sleep and to give the three-pointed star a much more ambitious high-end portfolio.

>> Should Daimler have bothered with Maybach? Click 'Add your comment' and sound off

Even luxury has its point of diminishing returns. There aer only so many rappers & pro athletes

[TurboDan]

MAYBACH S-CLASS MUSIC

[ifcar]

The article makes it sound like it was costing Mercedes $700,000 to build each Maybach, which I'm sure is not the case. Low sales just meant the development costs were spread over just a handful of cars.

[cawimmer430]

How does this fit into their H&H... hmmm, something tells me similar overexuberance killed the original brand. I see the connection now

They have it. 

[TurboDan]

The issue, Chris, is that the brand went away for 60 years. Nobody remembered the history or the heritage by the time it re-emerged, especially in the U.S.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

The issue, Chris, is that the brand went away for 60 years. Nobody remembered the history or the heritage by the time it re-emerged, especially in the U.S.

You beat me to it......

[Atomic]

 

You beat me to it......

so right, but in the "near future", those large s-class based sedans could take on some elements of the "maybach" design (eg, seats, paneled smoked glass rear sunroof) and/or name (eg, S57, S62 -- depending on length). just a few not carefully thought out 9:15 p.m. ideas.

[sportyaccordy]

Atomic you kind of touched on an important point... much of what separated the Maybach from the S-class just came down to features. G35s have reclining rear seats. I am sure other luxury cars have panel smoke glass roofs. And the W221 is 2 generations ahead of the Maybach in chassis design. It was a bad idea buoyed entirely by the falsely optimistic economy. The automotive Dubai if you will. Bummer as I don't think they even got much innovation or research out of the project.

[cawimmer430]

The issue, Chris, is that the brand went away for 60 years. Nobody remembered the history or the heritage by the time it re-emerged, especially in the U.S.

True. Very true.

[cawimmer430]

Atomic you kind of touched on an important point... much of what separated the Maybach from the S-class just came down to features. G35s have reclining rear seats. I am sure other luxury cars have panel smoke glass roofs. And the W221 is 2 generations ahead of the Maybach in chassis design. It was a bad idea buoyed entirely by the falsely optimistic economy. The automotive Dubai if you will. Bummer as I don't think they even got much innovation or research out of the project.

The only reason MB went with the W140 platform was because it could handle the excess weight. The W140 S-Class was fat and heavy and the W220 was the complete opposite. The W220 platform was ill-suited for duty in a porker of a fat and heavy ultra luxury sedan. Even the W220 Pullmans received a whole new special platform to handle all that extra weight and that drove the price up big time.

At the time there was no W221 platform on the market as it was under development.

[AltinD]

The automotive Dubai if you will.

Speaking of which, I've seen the car in Dubai back in 2002, months before it was revelled to the public for the very first time 

[sportyaccordy]

The only reason MB went with the W140 platform was because it could handle the excess weight. The W140 S-Class was fat and heavy and the W220 was the complete opposite. The W220 platform was ill-suited for duty in a porker of a fat and heavy ultra luxury sedan. Even the W220 Pullmans received a whole new special platform to handle all that extra weight and that drove the price up big time.

At the time there was no W221 platform on the market as it was under development.

Meh... they made a W220 Pullman didn't they? Plus they made the bulletproof W220s too which were heavy as shit. Bottom line the Maybach was unnecessary and outdated from day one.

[Tave]

The article makes it sound like it was costing Mercedes $700,000 to build each Maybach, which I'm sure is not the case. Low sales just meant the development costs were spread over just a handful of cars.

What's the difference?

[AltinD]

What's the difference?

Well, a considerable part of those costs would have occurred anyway, in the sense that with time the achievements are used accross the range.

[ifcar]

What's the difference?

The difference is that continued production would have reduced the cost per vehicle by spreading development costs among a greater number of cars. The implication here is that the brand was dropped because of that effective cost per vehicle, rather than an unspecified operating loss.

[Laconian]

Good catch, I also find these types of headlines irritating. *Any* product cut short in its lifecycle will appear to be a massive boondoggle.

[MrH]

It doesn't matter how you slice it.  They lost 1.5 BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS.

Yeesh.  I'm sure quite a few lost their jobs after that fiasco of a vehicle.

[Laconian]

Historyin' heritage and thundering typhoons!

[MrH]

Well, a considerable part of those costs would have occurred anyway, in the sense that with time the achievements are used accross the range.

What exactly was achieved with this car...

[93JC]

Good catch, I also find these types of headlines irritating. *Any* product cut short in its lifecycle will appear to be a massive boondoggle.

Yeah, but this isn't a product that was cut short in its life cycle: it's been around for ten years!

[cawimmer430]

Meh... they made a W220 Pullman didn't they? Plus they made the bulletproof W220s too which were heavy as shit. Bottom line the Maybach was unnecessary and outdated from day one.

Pullman and Guard were possible with special adjustments to the platform. Made the car heavier and more expensive. The expensive part doesn't matter to the people buying those things, but the heavier aspect did. It would have made more sense to design a platform from the start capable of handling all the weight in one go so to speak.

The W220 platform was capable, but the focus during its development was on reducing the weight of that S-Class generation.

[sportyaccordy]

What exactly was achieved with this car...

That's the thing. They pumped all that money into development... but what do they have to show for it? New platform? New engines? New technology? It was literally a W140 kit car lol. Epic failure, just like the original Maybachs

[Galaxy]

Historyin' heritage and thundering typhoons!

Blistering blue barnacles, interplanetary goat, tribe of Polynesians,  slave traders, fancy dress fascist!

I own all of the comic, plus the cartoons. The one thing disappointing about the new Tintin movie imo, was Captain Haddock. They got the Thompsons, and Tintin right but not Haddock. 

[Soup DeVille]

It doesn't matter how you slice it.  They lost 1.5 BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS.

Yeesh.  I'm sure quite a few lost their jobs after that fiasco of a vehicle.

Experience says: only the competent ones will be out of work. The vast majority will be reshuffled and new positions found for them at other brands.

[AltinD]

What exactly was achieved with this car...

All luxury elements have been slowly introduced on the S-class and other models.

[AltinD]

BTW, it costs Mercedes that same amount to develop the next generation of their top models.

[Atomic]

Atomic you kind of touched on an important point... much of what separated the Maybach from the S-class just came down to features. G35s have reclining rear seats. I am sure other luxury cars have panel smoke glass roofs. And the W221 is 2 generations ahead of the Maybach in chassis design. It was a bad idea buoyed entirely by the falsely optimistic economy. The automotive Dubai if you will. Bummer as I don't think they even got much innovation or research out of the project.

i think if priced about $175,000 - $225,000, they could have pulled it off. when residing in palm beach, i saw that a special showroom was built, maybach "specialists" employed, separate "everything" from the mercedes-benz models sold mere feet away. i would imagine the staggering price of losses included such amenities. too bad the cars were overpriced IMO and not allowed to be parked near their 'benz brethren. upping the services provided by mercedes and applied to maybach could have saved this umber luxury brand.

[sportyaccordy]

All luxury elements have been slowly introduced on the S-class and other models.

Like what? And why couldn't they have just introduced them onto the S-Class?

[MrH]

BTW, it costs Mercedes that same amount to develop the next generation of their top models.

  I have no idea what you mean by this, but ok.

All luxury elements have been slowly introduced on the S-class and other models.

So exactly what luxury elements did they develop with the Maybach...?

[AltinD]

Like what? And why couldn't they have just introduced them onto the S-Class?

For the same reasons your lovely Honda felt the need to have an Acura ... or Toyota e Lexus