What's Wrong With This Picture: Maybach Lives Edition
On the list of things that should not have survived the last two years of Carpocalypse, Maybach pretty much takes the cake. Even before global credit markets froze up and luxury car sales plummeted, Maybach’s appeal was wearing thin: as one TTAC writer put it, the brand built on lavishly trimmed S-Classes was born old hat. Or, as another Maybach gravedigger put it,
To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, the Maybach experiment was a conspiracy between Daimler and the rich to make the rest of us feel smart.
Well, get ready to feel extra-smart. While Aston is prepping a new look for the brand, the old Maybach is having one last hurrah, thanks to the German custom house Xenatec, and the Saudi-based Auto Kingdom. This “Cruiserio” Coupe is the product of a €70m Auto Kingdom investment, and was built by Xenatec with cooperation from Daimler. And with 100 units planned at €715,000 each, Auto Kingdom stands to make €1.5m profit on the project… provided they all sell. And if they do, this garish, gargantuan coupe is just the beginning. According to Jameslist,
The AutoKingdom’s investment in the project is but the first in a series of projects the company is working currently on, [Auto Kingdom Chairman Waleed Abdullah Al-Hokair] noted, adding that details of 3 such projects will be revealed in the near future.
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- Turbo Is Black Magic Yes… they will build a bunch of prototypes to shuttle around the Wall Street clowns to try and pump the stock again.
- Jan Smith Now investors should be really concerned. Unless he wanted to show a glimpse of the Model 2, he has existing cars to build upon for autonomous technologies. He even admitted all Tesla vehicles are capable of the next gen tech. Don’t spend money if you don’t have to. Now, the Robovan’s design is a page out of “I, Robot” except with seats. I wished Elon would have provided better explanation of its applications (airport and big venue shuttles). How about UberXL or XXL? Maybe a 7-8 seater with storage for suitcases. This would complement the robotaxi and can be rolled out simultaneously. Those robots are straight out of the movie “I, Robot”. I don’t think everyday people can afford those. And for people who can afford them, they can hire humans to do the same jobs. And, those humans go home at night. Can you imagine trying to sleep knowing there is a Robot in the house that Elon can shut on and off?? What if Robots become sentient…….
- Jan Smith Now investors should be really concerned. Unless he wanted to show a glimpse of the Model 2, he has existing cars to build upon for autonomous technologies. He even admitted all Tesla vehicles are capable of the next gen tech. Don’t spend money if you don’t have to. Now, the Robovan’s design is a page out of “I, Robot” except with seats. I wished Elon would have provided better explanation of its applications (airport and big venue shuttles). How about UberXL or XXL? Maybe a 7-8 seater with storage for suitcases. This would complement the robotaxi and can be rolled out simultaneously. Those robots are straight out of the movie “I, Robot”. I don’t think everyday people can afford those. And for people who can afford them, they can hire humans to do the same jobs. And, those humans go home at night. Can you imagine trying to sleep knowing there is a Robot in the house that Elon can shut on and off?? What if Robots become sentient…….
- SCE to AUX Of course not. They might field some Level 3 test mule with a human "observer", but there will not be a fleet of Level 5 robotaxis running around unmonitored.
- Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh Nope. After a few accidents states will do the same thing they have done to Cruze ETC and ban them long enough that that losses and bad PR will offset any possible meager gains and they will be ''converted'' to fleet vehicles that no-one wants.
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I took a quick glance at the regular Maybach (short wheel base) at my Mercedes dealer, when shopping for a vehicle. I did not ask them to unlock the doors, when obviously I cannot afford one. What struck me was just how uninspiring the vehicle is. It left my wondering "so what?" That coupe above looks like an improvement, but again, so what? Massively overpriced - just because it is expensive does not make it better or more desireable.. The Maybach is the 21st Century Edsel.
Another ugly-ass Maybach. Will someone please put a bullet in the head of this brand. If you do have money to burn, there are far better and nicer looking cars than Maycrap out there.