With the rise of logo luxury, Haute Hologerie and celebrity culture in the bling-era of the early 2000s, carmakers rushed to meet the global demand for extravagant, opulent and expensive automobiles. And while luxury conglomerates like LMVH, Kering and Richemond consolidated their market dominance, rather technocratical automotive groups like BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen all suddenly pulled their own luxurious brands and models out of their hats. BMW launched a Kensington townhouse on wheels in the form of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Bentley merged craftsmanship with high performance with the Continental GT - and Daimler revived the pre-war Maybach marque. Positioned well-above the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Maybach 57 and its chauffeur-driven long-wheelbase version, the Maybach 62, were meant to merge the aristocratic grandeur of the Zeppelin era with state-of-the-art technology.
The Maybach cars were highly customisable, hand-built, and extremely expensive, costing between 300,000 and 500,000 US Dollars. Despite (or maybe rather because of this price tag), Daimler was hoping to sell 1500+ cars per year. But the actual sales following the 2002 launch were much lower: in reality, Maybach sold 300–400 cars per year, sometimes less. The designs were criticised for looking too similar to stretched S-Classes, lacking the distinctive identity and British elegance that a Rolls-Royce Phantom or Bentley Continental offered. And while the interior aimed for private-jet opulence with rear-seat refrigerators, fully reclining chairs, and acres of leather and wood, the design language felt corporate and conservative, lacking the aesthetic cohesion and lavish specifications of the competitor luxury flagships. Daimler reportedly lost significant money on each car due to low volumes and high development and production costs. In 2011, Daimler announced it would discontinue Maybach. Production ended in 2012. Today, Mercedes-Maybach is a luxury sub-brand, successfully offering tailored customization packages for many Mercedes models.
While the early Millennial Maybachs failed to mobilise buyers worldwide, there was one small but affluent niche audience that fully embraced the cars' maximalist, money-is-a-mood aesthetics: US rappers. While Eric B. & Rakim and LL Cool J had worn large three-pointed star Mercedes medallions in the 1980s, the luxury limousine from Stuttgart had become the must-have accessory for trending rap artists like 50 Cent, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Young Jeezy in the early 2000s. Rick Ross celebrated the car with a song called "Maybach Music". Beyonce sang “I could get you a new truck, maybe even a Maybach". And Jay-Z even featured the one-off Maybach Exelero and a custom, de-assembled Maybach 57 in his videos. For some years, Maybach was the final boss in Hip Hop's eternal garage of fame.
As the warm, heavy, smooth, and expensively produced soundtrack of the G-Unit era is making a comeback, the early Maybach models from the Y2K years are suddenly cool again too. The long, smooth, almost yacht-like shape offers a welcome change from the overstyled hyper-luxury SUVs and fits well into the 'stealth wealth' and 'quiet luxury' philosophy that Gen Z is currently embracing. Same goes for the early Maybach interiors with their soft grey and beige-brown leather upholstery, glossy burl wood, and foldable LCD screens. What felt old-fashioned only five years ago now seems stylistically cohesive, retro-cool and perfectly on trend, just like flip phones, iPods and brushed-metal electronics. Last but not least, many of the first-generation Maybach models have depreciated by 50-70% despite their low mileages, offering great value for money – and the opportunity to travel and arrive like a boss even without a Fortune 500 salary. From the 11 Maybachs currently offered for sale on Classic Driver we would probably pick this Maybach 57 in Himalaya Hellgrau and Nayarit Silber bi-color paint and Galapagos-Grau interior from the stock of Eberhard Thiessen in Hamburg. Now the only question remains: which early 2000s rap albums shall we load into the DVD changer?
