S-Class [Official] Mercedes-Maybach S-Class (Z223)

[AbsoluteUnit]

More nonsense from Mercedes fanatics.

When BMW bought Rolls Royce, Mercedes hastily revived the Maybach brand, produced Mercedes-like cars based on the W220 S-Class, and demanded ten times the price of the S-Class. Nobody bought these monster cars, and they lost hundreds of thousands of euros on every car sold, eventually shutting down the brand in 2012. BMW, on the other hand, wrote a success story with Rolls Royce. This is a huge source of envy for Mercedes.

Rolls Royce was a prestige brand before BMW bought it.

Yeah they did a good job stewarding the Rolls Royce brand, but despite shared ownership a Rolls Royce is not a BMW.
People don't buy Rolls Royces because they're made by BMW.

Let's leave all this fanboy bullshit out of it.

BMW has bought Alpina precisely because there is a massive gap between BMW and RR as brands. Alpina exists to bridge that gap in the same way Maybach does for Mercedes.

 

[McLaren64TR]

For Mercedes fans, the only model left to boast about is the G-Class, as all other models have failed. They can't even praise the S-Class anymore, because it's filled with low-quality and noisy plastics.

 

[Esp5]

Yup all them INEOS Grenadier, BMW XM & Currently the Defender OCTA got nothing on the G.

From Chat GPT, just the way you like it:

"Land Rover Defender sales are booming, reaching record highs with over 115.000 units sold globally in FY2025"

That's compared to the G-Class's 50,000 units which is huge, but even so, you're quite wrong in your unsubstantiated assertions.

 

[Dopebouy]

More nonsense from Mercedes fanatics.

When BMW bought Rolls Royce, Mercedes hastily revived the Maybach brand, produced Mercedes-like cars based on the W220 S-Class, and demanded ten times the price of the S-Class. Nobody bought these monster cars, and they lost hundreds of thousands of euros on every car sold, eventually shutting down the brand in 2012. BMW, on the other hand, wrote a success story with Rolls Royce. This is a huge source of envy for Mercedes.

Quite controversial how the S-Maybach is a success to a point they compare it with the Phantom at times & the Phantom only wins the comparison by being bigger in size. Don’t you think that speaks volumes enough?

Imagine if they made a modern day Maybach 62, we’d be talking a different story.

 

[Dopebouy]

From Chat GPT, just the way you like it:

"Land Rover Defender sales are booming, reaching record highs with over 115.000 units sold globally in FY2025"

That's compared to the G-Class's 50,000 units which is huge, but even so, you're quite wrong in your unsubstantiated assertions.

Now tell me, how much does the average Defender cost compared to the G63 my friend?

 

[McLaren64TR]

BMW satın almadan önce Rolls Royce prestijli bir markaydı.

Evet, Rolls Royce markasını iyi yönettiler, ancak ortak mülkiyete rağmen Rolls Royce bir BMW değil.
İnsanlar Rolls Royce'ları BMW tarafından üretildiği için satın almıyorlar.

Şu fanatik saçmalıklarını bir kenara bırakalım.

BMW, Alpina'yı tam olarak BMW ve Rolls-Royce markaları arasında devasa bir uçurum olduğu için satın aldı. Alpina, tıpkı Maybach'ın Mercedes için yaptığı gibi, bu uçurumu kapatmak için var.

Rolls Royce was a very prestigious brand even before BMW bought it, but it was poorly managed and lacked innovation. They hadn't introduced a new model for a long time. BMW achieved great success with Rolls Royce.

If Mercedes was so much more prestigious, why did they need Maybach? The original Maybach models were unsuccessful and cost Mercedes a lot of money. Eventually, Mercedes decided to close the brand. In 2014, they rebranded it as Mercedes-Maybach. Because the Maybach brand was far more prestigious than Mercedes. Since nobody would pay that much for a Mercedes alone, selling it under the Maybach name made more sense.

Alpina, on the other hand, was already a brand that had been on the market for a long time. BMW isn't doing the same thing Mercedes did with Maybach; it's not reviving a dead brand. There's a gap between Rolls Royce and BMW, and BMW is filling it. What Mercedes did with Mercedes-Maybach was to get people to pay prices they wouldn't pay for a Mercedes, but under the Maybach logo. Alpina, meanwhile, modified BMW models and made them even more powerful. It was essentially a replacement for some models that didn't have M models.

 

[Esp5]

Now tell me, how much does the average Defender cost compared to the G63 my friend?

You're right, the Defender is a competitor to the Peugeot 208, not the G-Class.

 

[McLaren64TR]

Quite controversial how the S-Maybach is a success to a point they compare it with the Phantom at times & the Phantom only wins the comparison by being bigger in size. Don’t you think that speaks volumes enough?

Imagine if they made a modern day Maybach 62, we’d be talking a different story.

No, we couldn't mention it. Because Maybach was a dead brand. It had stopped automobile production since the start of World War II and remained dead until the 2000s. Naturally, it didn't have any distinctive design details that set it apart from the others.

That's why Mercedes didn't know what to do and presented it simply as a more luxurious version of the S-Class.

The Phantom, on the other hand, was already a modern design featuring Rolls-Royce design details, and it had absolutely no common points with the 7 Series.

The Maybach 57 and 62S used the exact same interior as the S-Class. Potential customers simply refused to pay ten times the price of an S-Class for what was essentially an S-Class, and instead bought models like the Phantom, Arnage, and Mulsanne.

This caused Mercedes to lose hundreds of thousands of euros on every Maybach sold, ultimately leading to the brand's closure.

While Rolls-Royce and Bentley had over a century of heritage, Maybach had been dead for 60 years and lacked any modern design legacy. Even if the 57S and 62S had been renewed, they wouldn't have succeeded. Because people either didn't know the Maybach brand or didn't remember it. Rolls-Royce, however, had been the world's most prestigious car brand for over 100 years.

 

[Dopebouy]

No, we couldn't mention it. Because Maybach was a dead brand. It had stopped automobile production since the start of World War II and remained dead until the 2000s. Naturally, it didn't have any distinctive design details that set it apart from the others.

That's why Mercedes didn't know what to do and presented it simply as a more luxurious version of the S-Class.

The Phantom, on the other hand, was already a modern design featuring Rolls-Royce design details, and it had absolutely no common points with the 7 Series.

The Maybach 57 and 62S used the exact same interior as the S-Class. Potential customers simply refused to pay ten times the price of an S-Class for what was essentially an S-Class, and instead bought models like the Phantom, Arnage, and Mulsanne.

This caused Mercedes to lose hundreds of thousands of euros on every Maybach sold, ultimately leading to the brand's closure.

While Rolls-Royce and Bentley had over a century of heritage, Maybach had been dead for 60 years and lacked any modern design legacy. Even if the 57S and 62S had been renewed, they wouldn't have succeeded. Because people either didn't know the Maybach brand or didn't remember it. Rolls-Royce, however, had been the world's most prestigious car brand for over 100 years.

i think Mercedes should give the Maybach 62 another shot. The Maybach brand has grown now & we know it’s history. It’d do great as a benchmark considering how rich rappers & crypto dudes like the S680 & GLS600, as long as they price it right.

 

[Uygar]

Comparing Phantom with a Maybach is just silly. No need for a debate.

 

[Merc1]

The Phantom has no automotive competition.

M

 

[Swissbob]

Now tell me, how much does the average Defender cost compared to the G63 my friend?

I agree the V8 and Octa are overpriced, the latter is almost as expensive as a G63.

The Defender you see on the roads are the 6 banger, those are priced at the right price and approximately half the price of a G.
At least in my country.

 

[Swissbob]

The Phantom has no automotive competition.

M

I agree and it’s so flashy and blingy that you must be very careful where you’re driving it.

A Bentley or Maybach are still 2 steps more understated.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

No, we couldn't mention it. Because Maybach was a dead brand. It had stopped automobile production since the start of World War II and remained dead until the 2000s. Naturally, it didn't have any distinctive design details that set it apart from the others.

That's why Mercedes didn't know what to do and presented it simply as a more luxurious version of the S-Class.

The Phantom, on the other hand, was already a modern design featuring Rolls-Royce design details, and it had absolutely no common points with the 7 Series.

The Maybach 57 and 62S used the exact same interior as the S-Class. Potential customers simply refused to pay ten times the price of an S-Class for what was essentially an S-Class, and instead bought models like the Phantom, Arnage, and Mulsanne.

This caused Mercedes to lose hundreds of thousands of euros on every Maybach sold, ultimately leading to the brand's closure.

While Rolls-Royce and Bentley had over a century of heritage, Maybach had been dead for 60 years and lacked any modern design legacy. Even if the 57S and 62S had been renewed, they wouldn't have succeeded. Because people either didn't know the Maybach brand or didn't remember it. Rolls-Royce, however, had been the world's most prestigious car brand for over 100 years.

The Maybach venture in the late 90s and early 00's could have and should have been a lot more successful if Mercedes had shown even basic competence in brand and product management. The Chrysler merger alone is proof they were completely out of their depth. With the amount of money they poured into the project, the outcome from both a product and market point of view should have been far more impressive. BMW showed exactly what was possible with Mini and Rolls‑Royce and they continue to outperform Mercedes is stable and competent brand and product management.

Good riddance to the Shrimp era!! Hopefully we won’t end up saying the same about Ola, because so far their brand and product management has been abysmal.

They really need to turn this ship around.

 

[Swissbob]

The problem of the original Maybach was, they built only 2 versions.

There was no convertible,coupe or SUV.

They could put a newly designed car on the platform of the ML/GL which came in 2005 If I rightly remember.

At 500k it would sell easily.

 

[Uygar]

I agree and it’s so flashy and blingy that you must be very careful where you’re driving it.

A Bentley or Maybach are still 2 steps more understated.

It’s the exact opposite for me. I would say the Maybach’s are the most blingy, then Rolls, Bentley being the last.
At least all the Rolls-Royce models I see here have understated specs, usually with unicolor, or some sort of a black-silver combination.
Everything depends on the owner’s taste, lol.

 

[AbsoluteUnit]

It’s the exact opposite for me. I would say the Maybach’s are the most blingy, then Rolls, Bentley being the last.
At least all the Rolls-Royce models I see here have understated specs, usually with unicolor, or some sort of a black-silver combination.
Everything depends on the owner’s taste, lol.

The sheer size and that giant chrome nose makes it pretty hard to call a roller 'understated'. Even the Ghost is f#cking massive. The Maybach is certainly blingy with the chrome and two tone, but at a distance it could be any Mercedes S class if it's got a mono dark or silver paint.

 

[Swissbob]

The sheer size and that giant chrome nose makes it pretty hard to call a roller 'understated'. Even the Ghost is f#cking massive. The Maybach is certainly blingy with the chrome and two tone, but at a distance it could be any Mercedes S class if it's got a mono dark or silver paint.

Exactly. The chrome nose is incredibly shouty, every Maybach is in comparison really tame.

For me personally only the ghost is acceptable regarding looks. Cullinan and Phantom are way OTT.

 

[Uygar]

Other than the gigantic grille I don’t really find anything about it shouty. Preferences, I assume.
Rolls-Royce is just something else. Screams luxury and opulence without even trying. One of my all time favorite vehicles for sure.

 

[Uygar]

The sheer size and that giant chrome nose makes it pretty hard to call a roller 'understated'. Even the Ghost is f#cking massive. The Maybach is certainly blingy with the chrome and two tone, but at a distance it could be any Mercedes S class if it's got a mono dark or silver paint.

Yup. The Ghost is the same size as Maybach while Phantom is like almost 6 meters long, and as tall as an SUV. I couldn’t believe how big it was when I first saw it irl.