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Is this an actual qoute from him or your inference?
GLS (X167) [Official] Mercedes-Maybach GLS (X167)
- Thread starter HUTSUTAo
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The Mercedes-Benz X167 is the third generation GLS range of full-size luxury crossover SUV. Production: June 2019- Model years: 2020-
Is this an actual qoute from him or your inference?
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- Matt
Taken from an interview he gave to Bloomberg posted in one of these threads by Wolfgang. I commented at the time that I thought it was off, and it stuck with me.
For reference;
Bloomberg: Let's get right to it: Is "sustainable luxury" an oxymoron?
Wagener: No, it's not. Sustainability will be key to the luxury of the future. Luxury is about being admired by society for what you have, or what you've achieved, or what you do. So it's crucial to show some responsibility to society, which of course includes environmental sustainability.
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Yikes. Thank you.
It's a really hollow definition of luxury, but probably not far from the truth in terms of generation Y and subsequent generations. Hence we have hoards of individuals willing to fork out hundreds of dollars on a cotton T with no real perceptible quality advantage over a 20 dollar T, just because it's got 'Balmain' plastered over the front of it. I guess this is the 'luxury' he speaks of.
I identify more with Betty's definition.
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My personal definition (in this context at least) would be more along the lines of - unnecessary positive excess in all aspects of a design. In that respect, I get why Wagener couldn't give a better answer when sustainability is included.
It's something I find interesting to be honest, I mean... why is leather considered a luxury item? Eh, that's probably a conversation for a different thread.
Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
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^ A recent interview with the product manager may shed more light on these topics? 
Martin Hülder has been Director of Product Management Mercedes-Maybach since November 2014. With a degree in automotive engineering, he has occupied senior sales and marketing positions at Daimler AG since 2007. He explains the role of the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC for the brand's further development.
Mr Hülder, in a nutshell: What does Mercedes-Maybach stand for?
Hülder: Mercedes-Maybach stands for the ultimate in comfort, top technology and therefore sheer luxury.
With the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC, the brand is being extended with the addition of a model in the SUV segment. Why?
The SUV vehicle concept has a major advantage for the luxury segment: the high seating position. In combination with the running boards, this makes access and egress outstandingly easy and convenient. Furthermore, the raised position in an SUV gives the occupants a different perspective of the surroundings, and many Mercedes-Maybach customers greatly appreciate this. Incidentally, a raised seating position is nothing new in the luxury segment: the grand luxury saloons of the 1930s, such as the Maybach Zeppelin, had a similar seating height for the driver and passengers, and very similar proportions.
Are you also aiming the GLS at new customers who are less interested in classical saloon models?
Of course. We are also aiming at customers who already drive an SUV. The different entry and the different seating position are experiences they want to retain. The worldwide success of SUVs has changed the standards and habits of car buyers.
Will the success of the luxury SUV come at the expense of the classical saloon models?
We are convinced that there will tend to be a distinction in demand rather than a substitution. The differences in design and vehicle concept are simply too great for that. We therefore see the SUV as a supplementary offer. Our customers normally own several different vehicles – and if they drive an SUV, we want them to drive a Mercedes-Maybach that offers them the luxury they expect from the brand. By the way: Since its market launch in 2015, more than 45,000 examples of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class have been delivered worldwide. In 2018 more Mercedes-Maybach S-Class cars were sold than ever before: one in seven S-Class models sold was a Maybach.
What distinguishes the Mercedes-Maybach GLS from other luxury SUVs?
The unique combination of comfort, technology and luxury. The great spaciousness, especially in the second seat row, and the use of materials are just two examples. Attention to detail also makes a difference. Think of the electrically extending running board, which not have ergonomic advantages when entering and leaving the vehicle. Their design is classically Mercedes-Maybach: fully integrated into the side sill panels, they are not visible in the retracted position. There is also the very high standard of design, which for example includes louvres in a pinstripe design and illuminated surfaces – which makes getting in a real experience.
What role does the Mercedes-Maybach GLS play within the portfolio?
Following various limited-edition small series by Mercedes-Maybach, for example the S‑Class Cabriolet or the G-Class Landaulet, the GLS will supplement the Mercedes-Maybach portfolio alongside the S-Class. We are therefore able to offer customers with different preferences a wider choice.
How do you handle the Mercedes-Maybach customer experience after the purchase?
Our customers also enjoy a very personal, foresighted service after their purchase. In the markets cared for by the Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Centre in Maastricht, there is now a special customer care service, specially trained personnel and a dedicated hotline number only for Mercedes-Maybach. This is how we want to further improve the service experience for our customers. It further enhances a major advantage of Mercedes-Maybach from the customer's point of view: access to the very dense and highly skilled network of Mercedes-Benz service partners around the world.
Are there also high-quality accessories suitable for the vehicle?
Yes, the brand experience goes well beyond the vehicle itself and the available services. The brand rounds off the lifestyle of its customers with various accessories. The licensing partner "Maybach – Icons of Luxury" produces exclusive collections accompanying the brand, and individual accessories that perfectly complement the individual models, for example travel bags, sunglasses, leatherware and home accessories. As well as first-class quality and design, the greatest importance is attached to the functionality of the products and accessories. Fine logo emblems and embossing lend a stylish touch to the products.
However, the all-round brand experience goes even further. The exclusive international customer programme "Circle of Excellence" offers unique events such as joint tours or test drives with new vehicles, opportunities for personal conversation with Mercedes-Maybach experts and brand ambassadors, and exclusive insights into our production locations.
Source: Mercedes-Maybach
Martin Hülder has been Director of Product Management Mercedes-Maybach since November 2014. With a degree in automotive engineering, he has occupied senior sales and marketing positions at Daimler AG since 2007. He explains the role of the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC for the brand's further development.
Mr Hülder, in a nutshell: What does Mercedes-Maybach stand for?
Hülder: Mercedes-Maybach stands for the ultimate in comfort, top technology and therefore sheer luxury.
With the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC, the brand is being extended with the addition of a model in the SUV segment. Why?
The SUV vehicle concept has a major advantage for the luxury segment: the high seating position. In combination with the running boards, this makes access and egress outstandingly easy and convenient. Furthermore, the raised position in an SUV gives the occupants a different perspective of the surroundings, and many Mercedes-Maybach customers greatly appreciate this. Incidentally, a raised seating position is nothing new in the luxury segment: the grand luxury saloons of the 1930s, such as the Maybach Zeppelin, had a similar seating height for the driver and passengers, and very similar proportions.
Are you also aiming the GLS at new customers who are less interested in classical saloon models?
Of course. We are also aiming at customers who already drive an SUV. The different entry and the different seating position are experiences they want to retain. The worldwide success of SUVs has changed the standards and habits of car buyers.
Will the success of the luxury SUV come at the expense of the classical saloon models?
We are convinced that there will tend to be a distinction in demand rather than a substitution. The differences in design and vehicle concept are simply too great for that. We therefore see the SUV as a supplementary offer. Our customers normally own several different vehicles – and if they drive an SUV, we want them to drive a Mercedes-Maybach that offers them the luxury they expect from the brand. By the way: Since its market launch in 2015, more than 45,000 examples of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class have been delivered worldwide. In 2018 more Mercedes-Maybach S-Class cars were sold than ever before: one in seven S-Class models sold was a Maybach.
What distinguishes the Mercedes-Maybach GLS from other luxury SUVs?
The unique combination of comfort, technology and luxury. The great spaciousness, especially in the second seat row, and the use of materials are just two examples. Attention to detail also makes a difference. Think of the electrically extending running board, which not have ergonomic advantages when entering and leaving the vehicle. Their design is classically Mercedes-Maybach: fully integrated into the side sill panels, they are not visible in the retracted position. There is also the very high standard of design, which for example includes louvres in a pinstripe design and illuminated surfaces – which makes getting in a real experience.
What role does the Mercedes-Maybach GLS play within the portfolio?
Following various limited-edition small series by Mercedes-Maybach, for example the S‑Class Cabriolet or the G-Class Landaulet, the GLS will supplement the Mercedes-Maybach portfolio alongside the S-Class. We are therefore able to offer customers with different preferences a wider choice.
How do you handle the Mercedes-Maybach customer experience after the purchase?
Our customers also enjoy a very personal, foresighted service after their purchase. In the markets cared for by the Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Centre in Maastricht, there is now a special customer care service, specially trained personnel and a dedicated hotline number only for Mercedes-Maybach. This is how we want to further improve the service experience for our customers. It further enhances a major advantage of Mercedes-Maybach from the customer's point of view: access to the very dense and highly skilled network of Mercedes-Benz service partners around the world.
Are there also high-quality accessories suitable for the vehicle?
Yes, the brand experience goes well beyond the vehicle itself and the available services. The brand rounds off the lifestyle of its customers with various accessories. The licensing partner "Maybach – Icons of Luxury" produces exclusive collections accompanying the brand, and individual accessories that perfectly complement the individual models, for example travel bags, sunglasses, leatherware and home accessories. As well as first-class quality and design, the greatest importance is attached to the functionality of the products and accessories. Fine logo emblems and embossing lend a stylish touch to the products.
However, the all-round brand experience goes even further. The exclusive international customer programme "Circle of Excellence" offers unique events such as joint tours or test drives with new vehicles, opportunities for personal conversation with Mercedes-Maybach experts and brand ambassadors, and exclusive insights into our production locations.
Source: Mercedes-Maybach
hoffmeister_fan
Kraftwagen König
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I am not so ready to be that harsh with Wagener as I don't know the guy. I guess his use of social media and the many hashtags he uses per post may shed some light on his personality, but he doesn't bother me that much. I think he's head and neck above his predecessor (Pfeiffer, right?) as I do like his stewardship with sedans (same sausage, different lengths as it may be) and the coupes (S-class coupe is just tremendous as is the E and AMG-GT.)
All that said, his idea of luxury doesn't completely mesh with mine. "Luxury" has got to elicit some sense of desire. Some sense of originality. Effort that's more than skin-deep. Excellent craftmanship with exquisite materials. Has a sense of longevity both in design and purpose. Something you know is frivolous but once seen, you really want it in your life. And, now with more awareness to our environment, it ought to be sustainable. I feel like trash listing off all that marketing mumbo-jumbo, but that sums up what I think luxury is. Now if more effort was put it in the Maybach SUV where there significant design details that were styled and not swapped out, there'd be value in stepping up to it.
All that said, I am becoming increasing ambivalent with luxury cars. Frankly, many of the newer cars have features that are found in luxury cars from 5 years ago. At the end of the day, a luxury car, like any other passenger car, transports people and their things. Give me a GT3 that has that viceral feel or S cabrio for that open-top boulevardier sense of grandeur. I'll gladly have one of those and a Subie Outback XT or a Honda e as my daily.
mdartisian
Tarmac Traveler
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It sounds more like his personal experience being admired for the last 6 years than it does about luxury.
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I would like to see it with black mesh in the bumper. It might make the grille pop more.
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Wolfgang
Kraftwagen König
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^ May take a bit longer as the release may be planned for Q2 2020 or so. Here's some info on two trim element options.
Under the microscope: designo decor with "flowing lines" and "light lines" High-tech meets craftsmanship
The pinstripe motif is a striking Mercedes-Maybach feature that can be found in numerous places, such as the radiator grille, running boards, wheel design or the air conditioning vents. This pattern has also inspired two trim designs. As a traditional material, wood is processed and finished to the usual standard of craftsmanship for these parts. However, presenting the guiding pinstripe theme is only possible using high-tech processes.
In the optional equipment "designo high-gloss black flowing lines piano lacquer", extremely fine, light "flowing lines" reminiscent of marquetry pass across the trim element, taking on its form and emphasising its contours. They describe an elegant flourish and draw apart or come together to heighten the harmonious overall effect. These lines are created by skilled craftsmanship and precise digital technology.
The carefully selected wood veneer has been aged for at least ten years, and a great deal of craftsmanship goes into cutting, reinforcing and stabilising it before it is sanded particularly thinly to take shape. It is then mounted on a carrier which gives it shape, and dyed black. The actual application of the "flowing lines" now follows. A specially developed CNC[1] milling cutter is used to define the fine lines in the layer of veneer, only a few tenths of a millimetre wide. These extremely precisely milled striations are also only just under one millimetre in depth. In the process the veneer layer is completely cut through, exposing the light carrier material. The difficulty of this operation is that the veneer can tear. To prevent this, the direction of milling must for example be adapted to the course of the wood fibres.
After milling, all of the milling dust must be removed from the components, right down into the fine striations. Microscopic checks are performed to ensure that the lines are cleanly milled and that all residue has been removed. The tiniest of dirt particles would make the part unusable. Only if it gets this far unblemished does it receive a full coating by machine.
The fine line pattern for the optional "designo high-gloss brown light lines lime wood" is produced in an altogether different way. In the first stage of the process, several layers of wood veneer are glued together to form a block. Every seventh layer is made of polycarbonate rather than wood. 0.6 mm fine slices are cut from the resulting layer-glued block perpendicular to the surface of the veneers and then sanded smooth. They form the veneer of the trim elements and are stained in a dark shade. The stain is then wiped away again so that the polycarbonate strips stand out as "light lines". In contrast to the "flowing lines" of the piano lacquer and magnolia trim, these lines run dead straight and parallel. When cutting and applying the veneers onto the moulded parts, meticulous attention must therefore be paid to their alignment. These veneers are then fully coated with clearcoat.
The finish, involving sanding and polishing, is then the same for both trim variants. Most of the work is done by hand, accompanied by frequent, careful checks. It takes a great deal of experience, finesse and a good eye to achieve an elegant surface. The walnut veneer receives a deep shine to which the "light lines" lend a unique structure. In the finely chiselled line pattern of the "flowing lines", it seems as though the light lines are inserted into the dark, high-gloss black surface of the piano lacquer or the magnolia veneer.
[1] CNC = Computerized Numerical Control. With the help of their sophisticated control technology, these machine tools can even produce workpieces with complex forms highly precisely in an automatic process.
Source: Mercedes-Maybach
- designo high-gloss black flowing lines piano lacquer
- designo high-gloss brown light lines lime wood
Under the microscope: designo decor with "flowing lines" and "light lines" High-tech meets craftsmanship
The pinstripe motif is a striking Mercedes-Maybach feature that can be found in numerous places, such as the radiator grille, running boards, wheel design or the air conditioning vents. This pattern has also inspired two trim designs. As a traditional material, wood is processed and finished to the usual standard of craftsmanship for these parts. However, presenting the guiding pinstripe theme is only possible using high-tech processes.
In the optional equipment "designo high-gloss black flowing lines piano lacquer", extremely fine, light "flowing lines" reminiscent of marquetry pass across the trim element, taking on its form and emphasising its contours. They describe an elegant flourish and draw apart or come together to heighten the harmonious overall effect. These lines are created by skilled craftsmanship and precise digital technology.
The carefully selected wood veneer has been aged for at least ten years, and a great deal of craftsmanship goes into cutting, reinforcing and stabilising it before it is sanded particularly thinly to take shape. It is then mounted on a carrier which gives it shape, and dyed black. The actual application of the "flowing lines" now follows. A specially developed CNC[1] milling cutter is used to define the fine lines in the layer of veneer, only a few tenths of a millimetre wide. These extremely precisely milled striations are also only just under one millimetre in depth. In the process the veneer layer is completely cut through, exposing the light carrier material. The difficulty of this operation is that the veneer can tear. To prevent this, the direction of milling must for example be adapted to the course of the wood fibres.
After milling, all of the milling dust must be removed from the components, right down into the fine striations. Microscopic checks are performed to ensure that the lines are cleanly milled and that all residue has been removed. The tiniest of dirt particles would make the part unusable. Only if it gets this far unblemished does it receive a full coating by machine.
The fine line pattern for the optional "designo high-gloss brown light lines lime wood" is produced in an altogether different way. In the first stage of the process, several layers of wood veneer are glued together to form a block. Every seventh layer is made of polycarbonate rather than wood. 0.6 mm fine slices are cut from the resulting layer-glued block perpendicular to the surface of the veneers and then sanded smooth. They form the veneer of the trim elements and are stained in a dark shade. The stain is then wiped away again so that the polycarbonate strips stand out as "light lines". In contrast to the "flowing lines" of the piano lacquer and magnolia trim, these lines run dead straight and parallel. When cutting and applying the veneers onto the moulded parts, meticulous attention must therefore be paid to their alignment. These veneers are then fully coated with clearcoat.
The finish, involving sanding and polishing, is then the same for both trim variants. Most of the work is done by hand, accompanied by frequent, careful checks. It takes a great deal of experience, finesse and a good eye to achieve an elegant surface. The walnut veneer receives a deep shine to which the "light lines" lend a unique structure. In the finely chiselled line pattern of the "flowing lines", it seems as though the light lines are inserted into the dark, high-gloss black surface of the piano lacquer or the magnolia veneer.
[1] CNC = Computerized Numerical Control. With the help of their sophisticated control technology, these machine tools can even produce workpieces with complex forms highly precisely in an automatic process.
Source: Mercedes-Maybach
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- Marcus
45K Maybach S-Classes sold! They will likely never see the point of making a truly bespoke Maybach again. It will remain a trim level.
There is a little more to this vehicle than I first thought. They have put some work into making it different. Still needs to go further though.
M
There is a little more to this vehicle than I first thought. They have put some work into making it different. Still needs to go further though.
M
hannaz
Aerodynamic Artisan
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- Hani Musthafa
You are right, if a trim can fetch so much business they won’t think of a bespoke Maybach model anymore.
Yah.. Maybach GLS hav more input than expected
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