In the year 2k DaimlerChrysler Company has revived the ultra luxury brand called Maybach. Since then, two of this brand models, 57 and 62, were produced and sold on the automotive markets. However starting from the 2005 there were some gossips about the Maybach plans to fill their model line with a bit smaller car and recently the Dieter Zetsche (chairman of DaimlerChrysler) told to Auto Express journalists that there is gap in their model line up for one car.
According to Zetsche the biggest headache for the management is deciding whether it will be a smaller Maybach (probably the rumored model called 51)or the bigger Mercedes. The smallest current Maybach is a model called 57 that is priced about 335 thousand Us Dollars (about 267 thousand Euros) and biggest and the most expensive Mercedes (except the officially charged AMG versions) is the legendary S600 with a price tag of about 140 thousand US Dollars (about 111 thousand Euros). To say honestly this is a gigantic gap.
But you would ask “Why this price hole should be patched?” and the answer probably would be very like plot of a soap opera, but here it goes. Daimler Chrysler tried to acquire Rolls-Royce/Bentley when the British company Vickers decided to sell it, but they blew and they were outbided by Volkswagen and the main Mercedes Benz archenemy BMW. Then BMW done some smart moves and finally became the owner of Rolls-Royce Car Company. Now BMW also has a slit between the BMW 760Li priced at 120 thousand Us Dollars (about 95 thousand Euros) and R-R Phantom – 330000 Us dollars (about 263 thousand Euros). The biggest coincidence (or not) is that recently Bavarian Motor Works administration announced about their plans to build a baby Rolls to fill that gap. You see what kind of soap opera that is and we think that this will not be the end of those companies clashing their swords in automotive market arena.
More info, more pictures and comments after the jump…
Mercedes Benz S600
And this is not the whole fun, because only now this automotive market gap for super luxury sedans in this price interval is quite empty, but we think this would not take to long to be filled with such cars like Aston Martin Rapide, Maserati Quatroportte, some Bentley sedan like the Arnage and maybe the super duper rumored ultra Cadillac sedan. If this happens then it will be one relatively crowded for this pricy market segment, but who know maybe in the few years time there will be a lot more customers willing to lay about 200k for the ultra luxury four door transporting device called car.