Motoring: The magnificent Maybach

After nearly a quarter of a century, the Maybach brand has been reborn: two new models from the DaimlerChrysler stable were unveiled at the Paris Motor Show held in September this year. The '57' and '62' versions present class, style and the ultimate in technical enterprise

The undisputed stars of this year's Paris Motor Show were the magnificent Maybach 57 and 62 luxury saloons from the House of Mercedes in the DaimlerChrysler Group.

Maybach may be an unfamiliar name to many motoring enthusiasts, as the last cars bearing this brand name were last built in the 1930s when they and Mercedes were the leading luxury car brands in Germany. Now, nearly 70 years later, the brand has been reborn and the cars promise to become the standard for exclusive luxury saloon cars.

Mercedes-Benz and Maybach have much in common as Wilhelm Maybach, the original designer and builder of Maybach luxury cars, worked as the engineering companion with Gottlieb Daimler as technical director of DMG in the latter years of the 19th century. He designed the first Mercedes in 1901.

Maybach left DMG in 1907 and set up his own company with his son, Karl, and concentrated on producing powerful engines for the dirigibles, or airships, of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It was Karl who later started designing and developing the exclusive and technically sophisticated luxury cars bearing the family name; by 1941, he had produced over 1,800 cars of this type. An extract from a Maybach brochure of the 30's reads: "... an automobile which meets every wish with the most distinguished elegance and power".

Today, the worldwide market for high-end luxury automobiles is about 8,000 units annually, according to market research carried out by DaimlerChrysler. However, that research also showed that this traditionally stable market would grow, particularly in North America and South East Asia. The core markets for the new Maybach models will be the USA, UK, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and other Asian countries, including Japan. The production of Maybach will be limited to approximately 1,000 units per year with 100 cars destined for Middle East markets.

The 21st-century Maybach automobiles represent motoring refinement at the pinnacle of technical innovation and the height of luxurious comfort. They introduce many totally new technical features unique to the brand. The model designations of '57' and '62' refer to the lengths of the bodies - 5.72 metres and 6.16 metres respectively.

A 5.5-litre V12 engine with twin turbochargers powers both models and it produces 550 bhp and a massive 900Nm of torque between 2,300 and 3,000 rpm. That torque is sufficient to propel this car with a GVW of 3.4 metric tonnes from 0 to 100 km/hr in just 5.4 seconds! Transmission to the rear driving wheels is through a 5-speed electronically controlled automatic gearbox.

The overall design of the body maintains the traditional luxury car styling with a relatively long front end and a short rear end, but the Maybach has many individual styling cues that are unique to the brand and that will immediately identify it as a Maybach. The car has a powerful and dynamic appearance when viewed from any angle as it sits expectantly on its 19" diameter alloy wheels.

The interior is quite astonishing in its classic design, space and range of innovative features - far too many to list here!

Perhaps those who will buy a Maybach will be more interested in the rear passenger compartment rather than the front where a highly-trained chauffeur is likely to be sitting and driving.

In the luxury saloon version, the two rear seats are similar to those found in the First Class and Business Class sections of an Emirates Airbus. They are reclining with the backrest smoothly tilting back through 47 degrees and have leg support and foot rest extending forwards from the lower section of the seat.

The two seats are divided by a rear centre console which houses, among other things, folding tables in special compartments, one for each rear seat. This multifunctional centre console forms the heart of a sophisticated stowage system and is also where the Maybach engineers have installed all that is needed for entertainment and enjoyment for the rear passengers. It houses a fridge box with its own compressor. It carries individual controls to enable rear passengers to adjust the climate, speaker volumes and so on.

Those controls also operate on the small TV screens set in the back rests of the front seats for rear passengers to view TV programmes or DVDs or to play video games.

The interiors of these new cars represent the height of luxury with lavish use of wood and leather. The Maybach 62 model, for example, is graced by over 100 different pieces of wood trim parts, each piece being hand-crafted and then pieced together to ensure matching grain and shade by experienced experts.

Another element of the VIP treatment for rear passengers in the Maybach 62 is the roof panel. This is an electro-transparent panoramic roof, divided into two halves. The front half, with an area of half-a-square metre, contains 30 solar cells that convert sunlight into electrical energy, generating about 60 watts for powering the front climate control system. This solar power flows as soon as the car is parked and ensures a continuous circulation of fresh cool air in the interior. The rear section of the panoramic roof is fitted with electro-luminescent foil between the two laminated sheets of glass. This liquid crystal membrane of conductive polymer plastic has a cable connection to a control unit that generates an AC output of 90 volts. Switching on the power arranges the crystals in such a way that the glass becomes transparent and allows daylight into the rear of the Maybach 62 over the entire area.

The special feature is that as soon as the AC voltage is switched off, the liquid crystals lose their transparent arrangement and the light is fragmented in all directions. The glass becomes opaque again and filters the daylight to produce a pleasant, diffused glow with only 75 per cent reaching the interior. This unique roof technology is only found on the new Maybach 62.

These are only some of the many innovative features to be found on a voyage of discovery around the new magnificent Maybachs from DaimlerChrysler. Such a voyage should be possible by late 2002 and early 2003 when the first of these luxury models arrive in UAE. In the Middle East, the Maybach 57 is expected to be priced at about Dh300,000 (ex-factory) and the flagship Maybach 62 at about Dh360,000 (ex-factory).