Daimler AG has decided to discontinue its Maybach ultra-luxury cars after failing to find a fix for their dwindling sales and lack of profitability, barely a decade after resuscitating the Maybach brand.
Instead, the German luxury car maker said it plans to expand its top-of-the line Mercedes-Benz segment — the S-Class — to six variations from the current three when a new generation of the flagship model is launched in 2013. Until then, Daimler said, it would continue to produce the ultra-premium Maybach.
The move, which Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche revealed in a German newspaper interview to be published today, is a bid to bolster sales in the highest end of its luxury model lineup, a task the loss-making Maybach failed to achieve from the start. Though the plush ride and its $375,250 starting price turned heads at shows, its sales have steadily faltered, shrinking to fewer than 200 Maybachs world-wide last year.
Daimler’s management has long been searching for a Maybach fix, and until recently considered partnering with British sports-car maker Aston Martin to help lower its production costs.