History

Muamer Hodzic September 12, 2007

Designed with meticulous attention to detail, built in a state-of-the-art “Manufaktur” and equipped with 21st-century automotive technology, the Maybach 57, Maybach 62, Maybach 57 S and Maybach 62 S are continuing the tradition established by the renowned Maybach cars of the 1920s and 30s which, together with Mercedes-Benz vehicles, belonged to the elite of the automotive sector, not just in Germany but at global level, too.

The Mercedes-Benz and Maybach automotive brands have an illustrious history and many aspects in common. Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929), a long-time associate of Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), held the post of technical director at the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) and was the design engineer behind the construction of the first Mercedes, the template for all modern-day passenger cars, in 1901. For this reason, Maybach was much admired and known as the “King of the design engineers”.

In 1907 Wilhelm Maybach, who was accorded a place in the “European Hall of Fame” in Geneva in March 2004, left DMG, joining forces with his son Karl in 1909 to build powerful engines for the airships produced by Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin. In the years after 1919 Karl Maybach (1879-1960) was to make quite a name for himself through the development and construction of exclusive and technically flawless luxury cars in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance . Around 1800 of these high-class vehicles had been built by 1941, with the bodies painstakingly designed and equipped by specialist firms according to the customers’ specifications. The flagship Maybach model was the DS 8 “Zeppelin” of 1931. At some 5.5 metres in length, this luxury motor car ranked as one of the most prestigious German vehicles of its time – “a car of the greatest elegance and power which you would give your last wish to own,” as a Maybach brochure put it.

With over 100 years of experience and technical expertise in the development and production of luxurious saloons the DaimlerChrysler Group was ideally placed to revive the Maybach name in 2002. Close cooperation with sister brand Mercedes-Benz – the world’s leading innovator in terms of automotive safety, quality, reliability and longevity – was and remains the key factor in producing high-end luxury cars worthy of the Maybach name. There can be no doubt that the Maybach saloons benefit from Mercedes-Benz’s position as a leader in the field of automotive technology.

The two brands are now closely linked under the umbrella of the DaimlerChrysler Group: Mercedes-Benz as the technology trend-setter and world’s most successful manufacturer of premium cars in high-growth market segments; Maybach as the brand for first-class, highly individual high-end luxury and prestigious saloons embodying supreme craftsmanship and innovative Mercedes technology.

This symbiosis of trend-setting Mercedes-Benz developments and classic Maybach exclusivity and individuality has resulted in a new generation of incomparably prestigious vehicles which represent the very pinnacle of automotive engineering.