Maybach: No Substitute For A Rolls Royce

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, the Maybach experiment was a conspiracy between Daimler and the rich to make the rest of us feel smart. The ultimate zombie brand, exhumed during the go-go nineties as a way for Daimler to charge even more for a stretched S Class, has now fallen on troubled times. And now, according to the ever-trusty limobroker.co.uk, none other than Mariah Carey has put the Maybach seemingly irrevocably in its place:

Initially a top class Mercedes complete with a chauffeur was sent to take Mariah to the studios, but this wasn’t deemed exclusive enough for a star of Mariah’s stature and was then replaced by a £250,000 Mercedes Maybach. However the Maybach limo was also rejected and then, third-time-lucky, a Rolls Royce Phantom was dispatched.

Of course the Phantom had to be “decorated with vinyl graphics of butterflies in a nod to the singer’s 1997 album entitled butterfly” before the divine Miss Carey would grace it with her presence, but that’s a topic for a more mental health-oriented forum. Ego-driven eccentricity aside, Mariah’s dismissal of the Maybach confirms Daimler’s failure to launch a Rolls-worthy competitor, an effort on which no expense was spared. It also raises the troubling question: will any brand be able to match Rolls at the pinnacle of the luxury sedan game? Maybach didn’t end up where it is because its vehicles are less competent, expensive or ostentatious than a Rolls. It even held some genuine cache amongst members of the music business for about two years. And then it just went flat. Mariah might not be able to explain why the Phantom stands alone at the top of the global luxury heap better than I can, but we both know it’s the truth. Anyone looking at going after the Phantom’s segment (hello, Bugatti Galibier and Tata’s branding graverobbers) should think long and hard about the reasons why.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

More by Edward Niedermeyer

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 32 comments
  • Kristjan Ambroz Kristjan Ambroz on Nov 19, 2009

    I agree that the primary problem is not the brand name but the product. Although I have to admit I found one Maybach particularly humorous - a couple of months ago I saw a firetruck red one with massive corporate logos of the stationery company Ryman in front of the Ivy in London. It was truly hilarious. Apart from the Grey Goose vodka Phantoms (and those were a lot harder to spot, well, the only real giveaway was their french racing blue colour scheme) are the only from the other side of the divide :)

  • Thinx Thinx on Jan 04, 2010

    I still remember how exciting the news of a Maybach revival by Mercedes was... until I saw what they actually did with it. An utterly cynical exercise which managed to be both bland AND garish at the same time. I had high hopes that a company like Daimler-BENZ, goddammit -- BENZ -- would present us with a technological tour-de-force to reckon with, instead of the marketing tour-de-farce that it turned out to be.

  • Analoggrotto TTAC is full of drug addicts with short memories. Just beside this article is another very beautiful article about how the EV9 was internationally voted by a renowned board of automotive experts who are no doubt highly educated, wealthy and affluent; the best vehicle in entire world. That's planet earth for you numbskulls. Let me repeat: the best vehicle in the world is the Kia EV9. Voted, and sealed, and if you try to deny it Fanny Willis is ready to prosecute you; but she will send her boyfriend instead because she is busy.
  • MaintenanceCosts Our Bolt is not going away for a while but if I had to predict today what would replace it, I'd predict an EX30. It checks every box for my wife.
  • Ajla Both Biden and Trump are on record caring ~0% what the WTO says and the US government isn't bound by WTO rulings.
  • Honda1 The FJB Inflation Reduction Act will end up causing more inflation down the road, fact! Go ahead and flame me libbies, get back to me in a few years!
  • Cprescott Fisker is another brand that Heir Yutz has killed.
Next