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The Rolls-Royce of Mercedes-Benz cars -- the ill-fated Maybach brand that was killed off after weak sales -- will be revived with the luxury marque’s latest limousine.
Mercedes-Benz plans to resurrect the badge on a top-line version of the S-Class long wheelbase sedan, a senior executive has confirmed at this week’s Geneva motor show.
“It will be called S-Class Maybach,” said Dr Hermann Joseph Storp, the Mercedes-Benz chief engineer for the S-Class.
“Everybody knows what S-Class means and what the Maybach badge means; in this case it means a little bit better equipment, silver cups for champagne, etc.”
When asked if the car will still have the three-pointed star, or the Maybach symbol, Dr Hermann Joseph Storp said the Mercedes-Benz will take pride of place on the vehicle but “there will some signs that it is a Maybach”.
The most expensive S-Class on sale today costs in excess of $600,000; the Maybach version is expected to eclipse this figure when it eventually goes on sale in Australia some time in the next two years.
Mercedes-Benz built the last Maybach on December 17, 2012, 10 years after re-introducing the brand in 2002.
A little more than 3000 Maybachs were sold over the 10-year period, including just 13 in Australia (five in 2004, three in 2005, one in 2006, none in 2007, three in 2008 and one in 2009, according to VFACTS figures). By comparison, Rolls-Royce sold 3630 cars globally in the year 2013 alone, its fourth record year in a row.
This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling
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