The appearance of a Maybach version of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class on a recent episode of hit US series Succession prompted a debate on UK car Twitter, begging the question: when did you last see one?
Belying its rarity in the UK, Mercedes has in fact made a spectacular global success of its ultra-luxury brand, given that pricing starts at a lofty £173,165.
In 2020, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius promised he would double Maybach sales from the 12,000 achieved in 2019. Last year, Mercedes-Maybach managed almost exactly that: posting sales of 23,400. In the same year, key rival Bentley recorded sales of 15,174, itself a record for the brand.
The reason Maybach isn’t that visible here in the UK is because its success is primarily driven by demand in Asia and particularly China, where Mercedes recently launched the sub-brand’s third model: the Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV, its first electric version.
The unveiling of the EQS SUV at the Shanghai motor show in April was an acknowledgement of how much Maybach owes to China. Around half its sales go to Chinese customers, revealed Mercedes last year, making the country the brand’s number one market globally. South Korea is number two. “Maybach represents the latest in technology combined with the latest in luxury. It’s a combination that works well in the Chinese market especially,” Maybach boss Daniel Lescow told Autocar at the sidelines of the Shanghai show.
While brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce downplay the latest technology, often hiding it, Mercedes-Maybach flaunts it via the same, increasingly large MBUX multimedia touchscreens used on standard versions of the cars. That plays well in China, where luxury customers are on average much younger.
Shanghai was chosen for the launch last year of the brand’s first-ever dedicated ‘Atelier’, a French word meaning artist’s studio, indicating that this is no mere showroom. More are being planned globally, with no official word yet on where the next city will be. “It’s a very quiet space to have your own Salon Prive,” said Lescow. “It’s important we go beyond, not just in terms of product but also customer expectations.”
Mercedes is deliberately linking Maybach to high fashion. It partnered celebrated US fashion designer Virgil Abloh before his untimely death in 2021. His work with the brand lives on in the Maybach S-Class Haute Voiture, a special edition limited to 150 and a hush-hush price tag likely to be well beyond the £217,200 for the V12-powered Mercedes-Maybach S680 First Class on which it is based. The bouclé fabric lining the interior is repeated in a range of bags and other accessories. “We don’t do car shows, we do trunk shows,” Mercedes head of design Gorden Wagener said of Maybach at the brand’s Economics of Desire capital markets event last year, referring to a type of fashion show.
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