SDNR
Kraftwagen König
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ahhhh, one of my favourite topicsI don't get why people are struggling with this because this time around Mercedes is not pretending that Maybach is nothing more than a fancier S-Class. That is what it is and is marketed as. I get it though and I agree that in order to truly tackle a car like the Phantom or Muslanne, they'll need a bespoke vehicle, but I just can't see it happening. I think Mercedes is just going have to settle for taking a few Flying Spur, Continental and Ghost customers with the S600 Maybach and the S Cabriolets. That is as high as they're going to get IMO.
Yes that pic says it all. Mercedes' full existence.
M
I agree with you Merc1 and furthermore I don't see the need for Mercedes to compete with Phantom. The S class Maybach has to be the default choice in the personal limousine market.
you are right, Mercedes has competed with Rolls-Royce before .... In fact it always has. The S class may be cheaper than a Rolls-Royce but it has long been regarded as the world's best large 4-door car - you have to go back to the 1930s Rolls-Royce Phantom II for when people said that about a Rolls-Royce.The high sales figure for Mercedes Maybach 600 says it all. IMO, the Mercedes brand is attracting customers in the price territory of Flying Spur and Ghost and the Maybach brand brings the exclusivity and added prestige for such customers. In the absence of Mercedes Maybach 600 those customers might have gone to these models from more "prestigious" brands. However, its Mercedes brand that is actually the driving force here because Maybach by itself couldn't do what is achieved by combining the two brands. Maybach, I feel, is far more suitable in the complementary role of extra support. Mercedes has done this before, that is, competing with RR with the 600 (W100) model but since then the Mercedes brand has moved downwards loosing some of the prestige and here comes Maybach in the supporting role to lift the prestige factor. But as before (with W100 600) its the technical brilliance of Mercedes that enables it to compete with much more exclusive brands and that expertise is still there.
True, but for me the most memorable car in Spectre was the "1948 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith".No wonder actress Monica Bellucci had one in the movie Spectre.
That funny-looking old car added to the surreal feeling of that scene in a way a modern Range-Rover, Phantom, or Maybach wouldn't have.