Homeluxury bag → Mercedes Benz: Maybach: 100 years in search of perfection | Mark

Mercedes Benz: Maybach: 100 years in search of perfection | Mark

Mercedes Benz

It was born to be the epitome of quality and luxury in automobile form, and has found its place as a sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz Mercedes Benz: Maybach: 100 años buscando la perfección | Marca Mercedes Benz: Maybach: 100 años buscando la perfección | Marca

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Wilhelm Maybach was born in 1846 in the Baden Württemberg region, southwest of Stuttgart, and after the death of his parents when he was a pre-teen he was taken to a philanthropic institution where he began to learn the skills of a baker, but soon his talent as a born engineer came to the fore, and by the age of 15 (in 1861), he was already taking a course in industrial design and training in physics and mathematics. It was not long before engineering course director Gottlieb Daimler appointed him his right-hand man, a position he held until Daimler's death in 1900.

It was in this capacity that the young engineer followed his mentor in 1869, first joining a locomotive manufacturer, then another engine manufacturer, based in Cologne, in which Nicolaus Otto was a shareholder. Otto patented, in 1876, the four-stroke cycle engine to which he gave his name, which was the basis of the combustion engines still used in today's cars (with four strokes: intake, compression, power and exhaust) and which Maybach tried to improve, until, in 1882, he preferred to leave the company and rejoin Daimler, who had done the same thing shortly before (the two built a conservatory in front of Daimler's house, which would serve as a workshop for their projects).

The genius of engines

It followed the first engine created by the two that quickly achieved success in Europe and the United States (several early manufacturers bought licenses for its use), thus financing the first Daimler-Maybach vehicle made by the talented team of engineers, in 1889. The next creation began to be designed in 1900, a car designed for racing and with the unthinkable power of 35 CV that could reach 75 km/h. It debuted in 1901 with victories in several races thanks to its excellent engine that bears the name Daimler-Mercedes, in honor of the 10-year-old daughter (justly called Mercedes) of Emil Jellinek, a successful Austrian dealer who participated in races on the Riviera. French, which greatly appreciated the talent of Maybach and who made an order for 36 units of the 35 HP model.

With its low center of gravity, longitudinally mounted aluminum engine at the front, dual valve control and an innovative honeycomb radiator, the 35 HP (better known as Simplex), is considered the progenitor of all modern passenger cars. And it all started with a winning streak on the roads of Nice in the spring of 1901, which made Wilhelm Maybach respectfully known as the "King of Car Designers".

By land, sea and air

Meanwhile, Count Zeppelin, another German visionary, dreamed of mobility in the skies and it was actually an innovative high-performance, low-weight engine and flame-retardant carburetor designed by Wilhelm and his son Karl (who had the same passion for mechanic, working with her father since she was 17) that literally gave her wings to fly. In 1909, father and son founded the 'Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau', the germinal cell of the later company 'Maybach-Motorenwerke', dedicated to the manufacture of engines for planes, ships and trucks, as well as the 'Flying Hamburger' locomotive, considered the progenitor of all high-speed trains. Those were times marked by the First World War that brought prosperity to the company that sold 2,000 units of a 160 hp aircraft before the end of the great war.

The Versailles Treaty of 1919 banned aircraft production in Germany and Karl Maybach (already running the company and having inherited his father's visionary engineering skills) reverted to the production of powerful diesel engines (for ships and trains) and automobile gasoline, until he turned to designing complete cars, the first of which was the W3, which was shown to the world at the 1921 Berlin Motor Show.

Mercedes Benz: Maybach: 100 años buscando la perfección | Marca

It had a six-cylinder engine, four-wheel disc brakes, a new type of transmission and reached a top speed of 105 km/h, which then caused shock waves, attracting the crème de la crème of European customers, between bankers, kings, emperors and industrial magnates (oddly enough neither Wilhelm nor Karl ever owned a Maybach, preferring to walk or travel by train almost always). And this is the moment when the Maybach car brand was born, over which 100 years now pass.

World War II curbs ambitions

In the Roaring '20s of the last century, long-distance travel was a matter of status and style, whether by land or sea. When the great ships 'Normandie' and 'Queen Mary' (more than 300 meters long and with capacity for more than 3000 people, between passengers and crew) were launched as the most beautiful ocean liners of all time (at the beginning of the 1930s) and after the death of his father (1929) Karl Maybach was building the jewel in his crown, the Zeppelin, the most imposing German luxury limousine of its time due to the unusual combination of technology (the first German car with V12), power (7-litre engine and 150 hp) and comfort at the highest level.

But the impact of World War II put an end to its commercial ambitions and the company had to downsize and return to diesel engine production, signing a supply contract to Mercedes-Benz in the 1950s, eventually selling it the 83. % of its shares already in the 60s.

Against Rolls-Royce and Bentley

A long period of hibernation followed until, in 2002, Mercedes-Benz decided to revive Maybach (with the 57 and 62 models, numbers reflecting the length of each, in decimetres). The idea was to prepare the brand that had been born with an aura of excellence to fight with Bentley and Rolls-Royce, two symbols of the aristocratic British automobile industry that had fallen into the hands of the powerful Volkswagen and BMW groups in 1998, just four years earlier. .

But the plan showed major flaws: the two models did not have enough technological differentiation from the Mercedes S-Class and when a new generation of the latter hit the market in 2005, the Maybachs became obsolete on several levels, something that the target customer did not forgive. .

As serious or more serious, the regional prestige of Maybach (a 90-year-old brand that nobody knew outside of Germany was resurrected), the design of the cars was not very attractive (compared to the English rivals that, yes, were manufactured in Lands of His Majesty, a relevant fact that until today VW and BMW insisted on maintaining -at least until the dust of Brexit settles...-) and the Mercedes-Benz brand has always enjoyed a better image than Maybach, which had cars that were worth half a million euros each...

Special versions were also created, such as the Landaulet body (with the spectacular rear seat, where the most illustrious passengers traveled, which could be convertible), and even more exclusive series (such as the Zeppelin), but the dice had been thrown long ago.

one step back

And the truth is that between 2002 and the end of 2012 no more than 3,000 units convinced customers around the world (approximately 1/4 of what Rolls-Royce sold in the same period) with losses of around 300,000 euros for each car. registered. Those who had thought it possible to register 1,000 to 1,500 Maybachs a year and fill the most select streets of Shanghai, Los Angeles, Dubai, London or Munich with these two models were sadly mistaken. And after 10 years of residual sales, the inevitable happened and the brand ceased to exist as such, forcing German strategists to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan, after the futures joint development project was rejected. models with Aston Martin (the losses of approximately 1,000 million euros that the Maybach adventure cost were enough not to continue with that idea).

So it was. In 2014, Mercedes-Maybach was established as a sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz, with the S 600 Pullman and S 650 Cabriolet being launched soon after. It quickly became apparent that the Maybach name could function as an appendage to the valued Mercedes-Benz brand, as evidenced by cumulative sales of over 50,000 Maybach S-Class units between 2015 and 2020 and with increasing "popularity" (one in each seven of the S-Classes sold in 2018 had Maybach as their last name).

more promising future

Once the formula was found, the product strategy began to be outlined, with several projects that helped raise the image of the Maybach name, such as the 6 Coupé and Cabriolet concepts (with the air of the evil Cruella de Vil car) that caused thousands of sighs to the visitors of the exclusive Pebble Beach car worship week (on the Californian coast south of San Francisco) in successive editions in the summers of 2016 and 2017.

But also with that differentiation of products that is fundamental for the customer to accept paying more: in the new S-Class, which arrived on the market this spring, there is an exclusive two-tone paint to differentiate the elongated bodywork (18 cm between axles in relation to the Class S Long) and various interior equipment that shoot the level of luxury beyond the pharaonic. Also, V12 engines are now exclusive to the Maybach S-Class, with 'normal' versions (even those bearing the exclusive sports acronym AMG) 'only' with V6 and V8 blocks.

The Mercedes 35 itself was recreated as a Vision Mercedes Simplex 'sculpture on wheels', recalling the historic victories in the South of France 120 years ago by reinterpreting the pioneering styling and stylistic cues in light of Mercedes-Benz DNA in the 21st century. As Gordon Wagener, Group Vice President Design explains, "only a brand with the power of Mercedes-Benz achieves this physical symbiosis of history and future that the Vision Mercedes Simplex symbolizes."

The value of the brand has also been nurtured with a careful marketing strategy. Licensed partner 'Maybach - Icons of Luxury' produces exclusive collections that accompany the brand and individual accessories that complement personalized vehicles, for example travel bags, leather goods and home accessories, with premium quality and design, but also assessing the functionality of each of the items. On the other hand, the exclusive program for global clients 'Circle of Excellence' allows access to unique events, such as exclusive programs or tests of new vehicles, opportunities for individual conversations with Mercedes-Maybach specialists and brand ambassadors and exclusive visits to the production plants of Mercedes-Benz.

In 2018 we met another concept, the Vision Ultimate, the first SUV associated with the Maybach name in more than a century. And that it arrived on the market in 2021 as the GLS 600, precisely 100 years after the creation of the first car of the brand that is now a sub-brand... but with a more promising horizon for the future. As with so many things in our lives, sometimes you have to take two steps back in order to take a more decisive step forward.

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