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Originally Posted by SCOTT27  The problem regarding both Smart and Maybach is that they are totally under and over communicated to their target audiences. Maybach have gone for the corporate excess look finally climaxing in Ghetto fabulous in which I know has turned off prospective buyers in Germany and Switzerland - These are traditionalists - people who have wealth and status but don't want to blemish their status.
BMW do not like the Maybach because the brand is iconic in Germany considering it's past and that the 57 or 62 does nothing to celebrate or communicate that history or tradition. One Rolls-Royce manager thinks it looks like an enlarged Hyundai. I know one thing that the 62 is expensive to manufacturer - Apparently they have to stop production so that bodyshells can be trucked to the plant that builds Mercedes-Benzes Buses so it can be dipped in a special tank as the tanks at the Maybach production line are not big enough for the 62 apparently...
But Mercedes-Benz are at that point where BMW was- It's plans of having a mass marketed brand now in tatters and shareholders demanding blood and action immediately before everything goes to the wall that dark cloud that visted Munich that fateful day in february 2000 is fast approaching Stuttgart and then that ultimatum that changed BMW " Do you like your Job?" will be asked in the same way. |
Some interesting poinst here SCOTT27.
I agree with you that the Maybach 57/62 might just be a little too showy for many people. This is where Bentley's Flying Spur has been so successful -- it carries a prestigious image but it doesn't quite overstep that invisible line where high-luxury gives way to ostentation and excess. The Phantom, for some inexplicable reason, works. The Maybach 57/62 is undoubtedly a magnificent car ...but beyond being a symbol of wealth and privilege, it fails to inspire much passion.