CarBrandLogos archive · Maybach · 2002

MaybachMaybach 57 and 62

Daimler's attempt to out-Rolls Rolls-Royce, and a very costly misjudgement.

Photo: Tribalninja · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Maybach history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Maybach 57 and 62, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

When BMW took Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen took Bentley in the late 1990s, DaimlerChrysler was left without an ultra-luxury brand. Rather than buy one, it revived a name from its own past. The Maybach 57 and 62 arrived in 2002 — the numbers are the cars' lengths in decimetres, the 62 being the long-wheelbase version built for people who would be driven rather than drive.

Maybach 57 Heck · Thomas doerfer · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The engineering was serious. A heavily reworked S-Class platform carried a twin-turbocharged V12 of 5.5 or 6.0 litres, and the rear compartment offered fully reclining seats, a partition, and a level of material specification that no series-production car had attempted. Each car was assembled in a dedicated hall at Sindelfingen.

Landaulet1 · Milliped · CC BY 3.0

In production

The problem was that it looked like an enlarged S-Class, and buyers at that price were paying for distinction. Rolls-Royce's Phantom, launched the following year, was unmistakable from a hundred metres; the Maybach was not. Sales never came close to plan: 3,321 cars in eleven years, against annual targets that had assumed roughly the same number every couple of years.

Maybach 57S, at tms2011 · Mj-bird · CC BY-SA 3.0

Legacy

Production ended in February 2013 and Daimler took the lesson. Maybach returned not as a separate marque but as a trim level — Mercedes-Maybach — applied to the top of the S-Class range, where it has sold far better than the standalone car ever did.

At a glance