Maybach 57 S

When Vickers decided to sell the Rolls-Royce/Bentley marque, DaimlerChrysler AG (now Daimler AG)  wanted to buy the company but they failed to seal the deal. Later on, BMW acquired Rolls-Royce/Bentley, so they decided to introduce the Maybach brand as a direct competitor to the Bentley Arnage and the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The Maybach brand dates back to 1909, and was a brand of ultra-luxury cars back then as it still is now. The first new Maybach models is the car I'd like to present today: the Maybach 57, it's name referring to the length of the car (5.73 meters). The version shown in the pictures is the S version - the S stands for Special, a sportier model presented at the autoshow in New York in 2002.

A bigger, longer version also exists: the Maybach 62, which is over 6 meters long, and for which there also exists an S version. I'll be posting more on the 62 and the 62 S later on.

Besides being ultra-luxurious, the Maybach models also are ultra-expensive, unfortunately. This proved to become a big problem for Daimler: Maybachs are way more expensive than their competitors, and you'd be hard pressed not to call a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce ultra-luxurious. From 2002 until the present, only 3000 Maybachs have been sold,  a disappointing result in the eyes of Daimler, and it was decided to cease production in 2013.

For the time-being, you can still buy one. Should you lack the required funds (the Maybach 57 costs about 550.000 euros), or if production is halted by the time you read this, you can still look at these pictures and dream.

... 5.73 metres of Special sportiness ...

... want to bathe in luxury? ...