2003 Maybach - Elevating the Ultra-Premium Luxury Car
What is a Maybach? It might just be the most luxuriously appointed, exquisitely constructed automobile ever created. Who makes it? While Maybach is a distinct and separate brand it is now manufactured by DaimlerChrysler AG. But why does the multi-brand carmaker holding the revered Mercedes-Benz line of vehicles need to create a loftier image? Isn't the M-B brand synonymous with European luxury? Yes and no. Yes in North America where Mercedes-Benz enjoys nothing but premium vehicle status, but not necessarily to Europe. While Europeans rightfully respect Mercedes-Benz as the maker of some of the highest quality cars in the world, the company's three pointed star adorns taxi cabs and industrial machines as often as it does sports cars and premium sedans. What's more, this same 'manual labor' scenario is played out in most every other jurisdiction in the world, other than the U.S. and Canada. Thus to go further upscale it needs a separate identity, elevated above working class status.
It all started out when British aerospace firm Vickers put both Bentley and the Rolls-Royce vehicle brand up for sale. A whirlwind shopping spree of confusion left arch rival VW owning Bentley and global nemesis BMW laying title to Rolls-Royce (there's slightly more to that story but I'll leave it alone for now). VW went a step further by purchasing both Lamborghini and Bugatti, the latter distantly known for some of the world's most alluring sedans.