As the son of a Holocaust survivor, the Maybach brand gives me the heebie-jeebies. Which is kind of strange. I've got no beef with Mercedes, a brand whose products provided Herr Hitler with his most photogenic platforms. Nor do I get any bad vibes from VW, a company that used Jewish slave labor during WWII. And my favorite brand is Porsche, whose namesake helped run VW when those slave laborers were busy starving to death on VW's behalf. Perhaps that's because so many Jewish people in my community adored Mercedes, BMW's and Volkswagens. If they were willing to let bygone begone… But there's a certain, I dunno, soullessness to Maybach products that creeps me out. While their cars are faultless in design, construction and materials, and the performance is just plain crazy, the Maybach's exterior and cabin possess all the charisma of a nuclear powerplant's containment dome. Which is why I LOVE the fully functional Maybach Exellero concept car. That bad boy is bonkers. And evil. If I owned one I'd have WWSD (What Would Satan Drive) tatooed on my shoulder. I reckon it's best to stay true to your roots, even if they're slightly poisonous.
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As my father loved pointing out, the guy who designed the BMW 328 was Jewish. It’s just that everyone forgot for a while.
oops
Just let it go, Japan has done almost as bad to the rest of the Asian countries while still feeling no remorse about visiting the war shrine for war crime committing former leaders, changing their history textbooks to delete their WWII involvement, but most Asians have no problem buying Japanese cars.
Of course, one might argue that it is only a hand full of right wing extremists (like those in any other country including USA) that feel no remorse, which I believe is true, and the rest of the civilians are just their pawns.
It’s not REALLY the same VW persay
That is one sinister looking piece of machinery. Should be standard issue to every suit-wearing movie villain.
Woulda made one heck of a car for Batman too.
Aside from the vaguely interesting road wheels, I’d call that one dog ugly concept car. Like shouldn’t a Maybach have some, ah, class? There’s no there there.
Interesting how Maybach, BMW, Ferrari, Lambo and Porsche know how to build cars with some real STYLE, but, excepting a VERY FEW models (Mustang & Viper…), the big 2.5 just can’t seem to get the knack of it.
Somehow they lost their American soul when they started chasing the Euroasian competition.
I think the Maybach Excellero (is that the correct name?) looks great. It’s almost like a new take on the Batmobile. That or else it looks like something The Shadow would drive.
Farago nailed it when he said that the Maybach CEO should have taken a single look at the Excelspreadsheetlerro and said, “Build it.”
Beyong good looking; primal.
I think the Maybach Excellero (is that the correct name?) looks great. It’s almost like a new take on the Batmobile. That or else it looks like something The Shadow would drive.
Or else the “Ambiguously Gay Duo.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
This is Darth Vader’s car
Those wheels are sharp! I believe they’re from the Benz Vision SLR concept from several years back.
P.S. Don’t listen to the haters Farago! Stick to the old style intro with Spinelli on the Precasts.
Hear, Hear! Don’t let go of the old style intro! All those “Ws” bring on a smile every time!
I was the user who suggested dropping the smalltalk regarding the status of the sites at the beginning of podcasts… had I known that it would be replaced by a discussion of loss of said greeting, I probably would have kept my mouth (laptop) shut.
:)
Shouldn’t we be seeing the next Ford Deathwatch by now?
The original Maybach supplied engines to the Graf Zepplin and other dirigibles, as I recall. But then the original Mercury flathead, whilst using some of the Ford flathead’s components, had its own unique tweaks. The Mercury marque is now a brand, and seemingly a weak one at that.
Maybach shows the value of a name, although certainly hardly anyone but auto historians – both part and full time ones – know of the connection to the old lighter-than-air craft. This new coupe riding under the Maybach flag looks like the ultimate Art Center Car, come to life. It might be the best lead car for a new Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. Even if it didn’t set the best time, it would look overwhelming while trying to do so.
Talking about the value of a name: It’s interesting to see who has the copyright on which brand name nowadays. Maybach for example was the technical mastermind behind Gottlieb Daimler and after Daimler’s death, he left the firm to start his own company because there was a lot dispute going on between him and management. Today, Maybach’s name belongs to DaimlerChrysler (talking about irony), while Daimler’s name belongs to Jaguar which belongs to Ford (as of now).
By the way, the original Maybach company still exists, even though it didn’t build any cars since 1941. It is now called MTU Friedrichshafen and is one of the world leaders in large Diesel engines. It used to belong to DCX, but was sold last year to some Swedish Private-Equity-Group.