This year marks the centenary of Maybach, an ultra-luxury car brand. Not long ago, in Beijing's 798 Art District, Mercedes-Benz also released the Mercedes-Maybach S680 4MATIC 100 anniversary edition with a limited edition of only 100 units in the world. Once again, the century-old brand and the pursuit of automobile manufacturing are displayed in front of everyone.
Perhaps many friends have "heard of and are not clear" about the Maybach brand, and perhaps many friends' impressions of Maybach only exist on the S62 model more than a decade ago. But I don't know why when I first entered the Chinese market 10 years ago, I could benchmark with Rolls-Royce and Bentley? Today, let's use the brand for a hundred years to go back to the last century together, to see what is so great about this brand, and what is commendable...
First, the founder of the Maybach brand - William Maybach:
In Europe, most of the brands with certain historical origins have their names related to the names of the founders. When William Maybach set his ambition to "create ultra-luxury cars", he naturally adopted his own name as the brand name.
Wilhelm Maybach was a very talented designer and engineer in Germany, not only one of the three main founders of Daimler-Mercedes-Benz, but also considered a close friend by Gottlieb Daimler, and the world's first Mercedes-Benz car was invented by Wilhelm Maybach.
A test vehicle developed by Maybach in 1919
In 1895, he invented the world's first four-cylinder car engine, and in addition to this, Wilhelm Maybach had another influential design, which was a durable engine for German airships.
In 1921, Willem Maybach and his son Carl Maybach developed the first Maybach sedan W1 on the chassis of the Mercedes-Benz sedan, thus opening up the history of Maybach. In the same year, Carl Maybach publicly stated at the Berlin Motor Show: "I want to build the most expensive car", thus establishing the direction of the Maybach car, and this year, Wilhelm Maybach was over seventy years old.
Maybach's brand LOGO is two overlapping "M", which represents both the initials of the father and son's surname, as well as the love and determination of the brand.
Maybach W3 sedan
Maybach W5 sedan
In late 1926, Maybach introduced the W5 sedan, which was a huge influence at the time, equipped with a 6-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 6992 cc, up to 120 horsepower, and equipped with a very advanced transmission with overdrive at that time. In terms of luxury configuration, the W5 model also pioneered many clever designs, such as the folding small table board in the rear row, cup holders and storage slots with different divisions of labor, etc., which laid the foundation for the Maybach limousine route.
Karl Maybach
At the end of the 1920s, Carl Maybach, son of Wilhelm Maybach, began to develop 12-cylinder car engines, and with the experience accumulated in the aviation industry in the manufacture of multi-cylinder engines, Carl Maybach built a 7-liter v12 engine in 1929 and named it the Maybach "Type 12". In the same year, at the age of 83, Wilhelm Maybach died in Stuttgart, Germany.
Second, the rise and fall of Maybach:
After the death of Willem Maybach, his son Karl Maybach took up the girder of the family business and, after more meticulous improvements to the V12 model, introduced the famous Maybach Zeppelin (Zeppelin) DS7 model in 1929. The DS7 models are available in both a four-door hardtop version and a two-door convertible version. The Doppel Sechs 7 has a huge body size, which gives him the momentum he deserves as a super luxury sedan, with a wheelbase of 3734mm and an "overweight" of nearly 3 tons that forced him to introduce a new regulation - drivers of this car need to obtain a truck driver's license.
Soon after the launch of the DS7, it ushered in a new model of "mid-term modification" - the DS8. The new car is equipped with an 8.0-liter V12 engine with a maximum output of 200 horsepower, which is more than 30% higher than the DS7. This brings the nearly 3-ton DS8 to a record top speed of 171 km/h.
The V12 engine on this DS8 model is a work of art
From 1931 to 1940, Maybach successively launched the W6 model, SW35 special edition, SW38 and SW42, which once became the first choice for the prominent officials at that time. And many of the involvements were also the first stunning appearances of that era. For example, the "buried wheel" design of the rear half of the SW35 special edition led the trend of automobile design in that era, and also perfectly integrated the aerodynamic concept with the beautiful and flowing shape. The SW42 pushed the luxury of the exterior interior to a new high, and in that era it was already available in two versions of the standard wheelbase and the long wheelbase, of which the long wheelbase version reached a staggering 3680mm.
Maybach W6 model
Maybach SW model
Maybach SW35 special edition model
SW42 model
Third, Maybach's helplessness:
As the representative of ultra-luxury cars in that era, Maybach was definitely worthy of the scenery, and it also became synonymous with the "dream car" in the hearts of countless ordinary people at that time. From 1921 to 1940, maybach produced and sold 1,800 cars. However, this smooth day soon disappeared.
Maybach's Tiger TANK engine
After the war, although the Maybach factory was repaired and rebuilt, the high production costs and the economic recession at the time made Maybach lose its survival (lack of rich customers) and soon announced a total shutdown.
For Maybach, although he and Mercedes-Benz have the same bloodline from the beginning, the positioning of the "pyramid tip" has made him and Mercedes-Benz more and more distant at this time. In particular, by the end of the 1950s, the german automotive industry, which was gradually recovering, was booming. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class began to emerge in the world during this period, and soon established its own luxurious and high-end brand image. At this time, Mercedes-Benz has not only satisfied with this, they want to march to a more high-end, more niche ultra-luxury brand camp to further enhance their brand image, and Maybach has become the first choice for Mercedes-Benz.
In 1960, Daimler-Benz Acquired Maybach, which was still in the stage of discontinuation, and rebuilt and renovated its factory as MTU Friedrichshafen.
Mercedes-Benz W108 S-Class model
After the acquisition, the main task of the Maybach plant was to produce special versions of the W108 and W116 sedans for Mercedes-Benz, which were hung with the Mercedes-Benz brand logo at that time. It wasn't until 1997 in the last century that Mercedes-Benz unveiled a luxury concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show. At this point, the prelude to mercedes-Benz's first resurrection of maybach was opened. This concept car has spawned two cars, the Maybach 57 / Maybach 62. Among them, "57" actually means that the length of the body is 5.7 meters, and "62" means that the length of the car is 6.2 meters.
If you have an impression of these two cars, you may also remember that the S62, which was introduced into China in the past, was required by the motor vehicle management regulations to hang the same yellow license plate as the truck because the length of the car exceeded 6 meters.
The Maybach 57/62 Zeppelin Special Edition was launched in 2009
Perhaps the resurrected Maybach has been difficult to compete with the "handle" Rolls-Royce of the ultra-luxury car and the Bentley of the "Queen's Car", and its sales are less than a fraction of the two brands.
Finally, in 2013, Maybach was "hidden" by Mercedes...
Mercedes Maybach S600 unveiled at the 2014 Guangzhou Auto Show
The Rebirth of Maybach:
In 2015, after rethinking and planning, Mercedes-Benz decided to incorporate the Maybach into the Mercedes-Benz S-Class series, making it a unique presence in the Mercedes-Benz car series. This move allows Maybach to finally show itself in front of consumers again under the "escort" of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and also allows its brand's unique aura to shine again (although not as dazzling as when it was an independent brand). After becoming the ultra-luxury model of Mercedes-Benz's flagship car series, Maybach finally put down the pricing idea of "comparable to Rolls-Royce" and entered the list of vehicles purchased by more high-end car owners at a more acceptable price.
Today, in addition to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Mercedes-Benz Maybach model also has GLS Maybach SUV, which has achieved good sales in China. GLS Maybach even has to wait for hundreds of thousands of dollars because of fewer orders for cars...
After seeing the market share of the Mercedes-Benz S Maybach version, in the early winter of this year, Audi also launched the A8L Horch version, hoping that with the blessing of the Horsie version, Audi's A8L and Mercedes-Benz S Maybach could compete.
Audi A8L Horch (Horch Edition)
Write at the end:
At this time in the 100th year of Maybach, when we look back at the road of this legendary brand, we can see that in the automotive circle, no matter what kind of vision the brand is, or how high-end and luxurious the product is, it is necessary to find the right product positioning and the corresponding population positioning, and at the same time conduct a detailed analysis of the crowd and the market to gain a firm foothold in the market. Otherwise, no matter how much emotion and history there is, it will eventually be ruthlessly submerged in the ruthless market tide.