Though Daimler has tweaked the look with updates like the Zeppelin, there's been no major remake of the Maybach sedans since their 2002 launch.
Daimler AG plans to unveil an updated version of its big Maybach ultra-luxury sedan at the Beijing Auto Show later this month, Daimler Chief executive Dieter Zetsche revealed.
Cornered by irate shareholder during the company’s annual meeting in Berlin, Zetsche denied the suggestion that Maybach was a failure – or that it has even lost money. The fact, he claimed, is that every Maybach makes a “good contribution” to the Daimler’s bottom line. An updated version of the Maybach, which gets the first really significant facelift since the brand’s 2002 launch, will make its debut at the Beijing auto show, said Zetsche.
While the U.S. remains Mercedes’ single most important market, the appearance of the Maybach in Beijing indicates just how important China has become to Daimler. The belief inside the company is that China and other emerging markets, such as Brazil and India, are the future.
China, in fact, is becoming the most important market for the S- Class, which is traditionally Daimler AG’s most expensive sedan – other than the extremely low-volume Maybach — and the car line that makes more money for Daimler than any another other single vehicle in the Mercedes line-up.
“The potential of the Chinese market remains enormous, and our targets are correspondingly ambitious. We intend to sell more than 100,000 vehicles in China,” said Zetsche, adding, “We expect to gain considerable momentum from the extended-wheelbase version of the E-class, which will be launched this summer,” in China.
Daimler has probably focused more attention on China than any other issue over the past couple of years and Zetsche is promising it will pay for itself soon.