Bonehead Or Brilliant? $1 Million Maybach To Be Followed By Super Luxury SUV

Mercedes lost hundred of millions on the failed Maybach. Now they are following in the same failed footsteps. BONEHEADS

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2012/02/08/maybach-the-500000-mercedes-benz-mistake/

I agree, the Maybach brand was executed poorly by Benz and cost them millions because they jumped the gun.

Maybach should have been introduced as a Trim Level for high end Mercedes from the start, similar to AMG, Black Series.

Once the Maybach Trim level developed a strong enough following, Mercedes should have then developed an ALL NEW Vehicle, not the old S Class, to Launch the Brand under.

I think this go round, they are doing it right and taking much less risk..

Should the Maybach Trimmed S Class turn a profit and get a strong following, Mercedes may relaunch the Maybach brand with an all new line up...3rd times the charm

Utterly stupid but oil barons, pimps, rappers, ballers, and drug dealers (i.e. people without taste) will snap them up.

Don't forget Wall Street Bankers, Fortune 500 CEO's/executives ,and Media Moguls, the groups that make up more sales for Luxury brands than the groups you listed combined....

BTW...BRILLIANT MOVE by Mercedes. The S Class Pullman will be a success because it is not pretending to be anything it isn't and the super rich will pay the premium to have something more exclusive than the average S Class

Already considered "The Best Car In the World" by many, how do you make it better, you make an extremely exclusive model whose predecessor's owners list included Elvis Presley, World Diplomats/Leaders, and Movie Stars from the golden era.

The Super SUV on the other hand may be a harder sell, but the S Class will sell like crazy.

I mean seriously... Mercedes is not content with who they are in the automotive world they've got to dominate every single category? Mercedes wants to surpass the cache of Rolls Royce, Bentley, and every other super luxury brand and then eat the lunch of Toyota, Honda and brands at the lower end. Sounds to me like German arrogance... Pride goeth before a fall.

Car4Life is nothing but a pimp for MB... EVERYTHING they do is brilliant and anything anyone else does is because they lust after being MB. Your comments are boring and predictable.

@xjug1987a Mercedes is becoming the German version of Hyundai i.e. in every segment plebeian to premium and beyond AND trucks and busses all with Mercedes on them. Brand suicide.

That German arrogance is already proven to be "unrivaled", and now no one can stop the German domination, just like how fashion is dominated by the French and the Italians.

And the Americans? What do they have? They only have garbage brands like GM, Ford and Chrysler.

And those garbage brands shamelessly price their junk high, which is laughable.

The American arrogance is already "proven" to be just a poser being desperate. The German arrogance is based on heritage and their engineering prowess that are simply not comparable to anything else.

The U.S. lost the economic game, and the E.U. won. Get used to it.

Standard JDMUSMuscle BS response: "Anything Japanese is the Holy Grail. German is mediocre but tolerable when someone is not smart enough to buy a Juke. But above all, American cars are 10 times worse than Ladas made during the times of the USSR."

Why has everyone here having their panties twisted about it?
Are you shareholders?
If not, it's none of your business how MB is spending their R&D $$.
No reason to get angry and call them(or their defenders) in derogatory terms, just say it is not or is a good move.
Too many here take these business decisions personally,kind of funny ,since they do not affect them personally anyway.

Only time will tell if the ultra-lux venture will pay off. Personally, I think it will be successful because Mercedes is approaching it smarter this time around. They failed the first time partly because of the unknown Maybach name, with a completely inelegant logo, and what was perceived as a dressed-up S-Class.
This time, they are attaching their known brand name and logo, and using the new S-class which has upped the ante SIGNIFICANTLY in the large luxury sedan category. Adding an SUV might be the smartest move here since, if equipped like the intended sedan, will prove appealing to a wider scope of buyers.

As much as Maybach was a failure at the top end, had Mercedes decided to spin off a sub-brand spinoff with the A-class cars at the bottom end, I truly believe that would have been an abject failure as well.

Judging by the lack of success of Maybach's first attempt, I'm inclined to say it'll be more of the same.

Smart. Already using MB GL platform and engine. Low marketing startup costs. GL already beautiful. Add more leather, exotic woods, luxury features. What does MB have to lose.

Billions & a bit of pride, I guess.

They're walking a thin line...the Maybach versions will be compared to Bentley & Rolls-Royce. Critics will still ask "why can't M-B develop Maybach as a separate ultra-luxury brand" like Bentley & RR - and that will reverberate throughout the auto industry.

...and won't the Maybach ultra-luxury (trimmings) diminish the "exclusiveness" of the Pullman line as well?

Are they (M-B) just being lazy by not developing a whole new, separate exterior design for Maybach?

The German cars simply sell.

But the American cars never sell.

Why? Because no one wants garbage. Even the Americans. Why do you think so many Americans worship the European brands?