Once a name best known for providing a platform for Kanye West’s and Jay Z’s Mad Maxian fantasies, Maybach is set to return from the grave under the bright lights of the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show as a Mercedes model.
Car & Driver reports the Maybach will be around 18 feet in length, slotting between the S550 and the deceased Maybach 57, according to head of global design, Gordon Wagener.
Other features include a turbocharged V12, rear-wheel drive, Mercedes’ Magic Body Control suspension, luxurious materials, and a badge here and there to let the proletariat know a god and/or goddess is being chauffeured, not some Silicon Valley dirtbag.
The Mercedes Maybach will be going up against Bentley and Rolls-Royce in the Grey Poupon delivery game, with the Maybach name becoming a sub-brand like AMG. That move could, in turn, allow for more models down the road, such as an SUV based on the GL-Class, as well as a coupe and/or convertible derived from the S-Class.
As for price of admission, all that has been said is that it will be lower than the Maybach models from just a few years ago.
Somehow, “Magic Body Control” sounds like something you would find offered via a late-night infomercial.
It’s actually quite slick. It uses the multipurpose camera in the windshield to scan for road imperfections, than uses the active body control (Mercedes’ hydraulic suspension) to compensate for it. It keeps the car going level. Watch this video.
“That move could, allow for more models down the road”
Maybe an A-class Maybach could be an autonomous vehicle so the owner still gets to ride in the rear seat without the expense of a chauffeur.
I like MB as a company quite a bit, and I like many of their cars, including their most recent S-class. BUT I hate the Maybach since its inception and I can’t imagine what this latest iteration of Maybach does for the company or for the rest of the line up. Unlike the S class where it introduces technologies and features that later filter down to the lower level cars, the Maybach (as far as I can tell) take the technology from other MB cars and dress them up in an ungainly package. Other than the changing sunroof, I don’t recall anything unique that was introduced in the Maybach that is now a killer feature in the other MB cars (I’m probably wrong here but that’s the only thing I can recall anyway). This latest version really needs to stand out from the S class, and I would even suggest that it needs to stand apart from Mercedes in terms of other intangibles.
Mmm a Maybach G-Wagen. It’ll be so subtle.