Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rick Ross, Swae Lee, Beyoncé, Young Thug- that’s just a short list of artists that mention Maybachs in their songs. To say it’s a big part of modern pop culture would be an understatement really. But Maybach wasn’t really meant to make a comeback in the 2000s. So what happened?

Rick Ross’ famous Maybach photoshoot

(via Kaai Jealynn)

In 1997, Rolls-Royce and Bentley’s owners, Vickers Engineering, were looking to get rid of the two British luxury marques. Three big companies stepped up to grab them instantly. BMW Group, Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG. Volkswagen ended up with Bentley and went home to work on the Continental GT. BMW ended up with Rolls-Royce and went home to work on the Phantom. Daimler was left all by themselves and was feeling a bit left out. So they got to work reviving their long-dead luxury brand; Maybach. They came out with two models initially: the 57, which was intended to be occasionally driven by the owner, and the 62, which was developed solely as a chauffeur-driven car.

Though they were based on the chassis of the W140 S-Class of its time, the 57 and 62 looked nothing like their Mercedes cousin. Daimler developed a brand new V12 engine for their new Maybach. It was called the M285 and gave the Maybach twins 542hp in its standard form. If the 57 and 62 weren’t special enough for you, there was the 57S and 62S. The ‘S’ stood for “special” and added $50-60k to the price tag depending on which model you chose. The ‘S’ models featured an AMG-built twin-turbo V12 that produced 604hp and propelled the massive land barge from 0-100km/h in a mere 4.8 seconds.

But what if the ‘Special’ isn’t special enough for you? Well Maybach has you covered. Try the 57 and 62 Zeppelin. It wasn’t a separate model, but rather a package that you could option on either of the Maybach twins. (Think Weissach Pack on a GT2 RS) The Zeppelin had its name etched into the Maybach hood ornament, but for your money, you did get a lot more than just that. You got “California beige leather” (as opposed to Chicago beige leather I suppose), Zeppelin champagne flutes, piano black lacquer trim, 20-inch chrome wheels, and darkened red taillights. The Zeppelin was the most powerful Maybach, making 631 hp and rocketing you to 100km/h on the Autobahn in roughly four and a half seconds.

Maybach 57 Zeppelin

(via Finest Automotive)

BMW and Volkswagen were thriving with both the Phantom and the Continental GT selling in huge numbers, but Daimler didn’t seem to have the same amount of success. They had made a great fanfare launching the Maybach and with the Mercedes-Chrysler deal freshly signed, lots of patriotic Americans were ready to buy Maybachs. Jay Leno, Samuel L Jackson, Kanye West, and Will Smith all had one. All seemed to be going great for Daimler, and then it didn’t. They closed down 29 of their 79 US dealerships in 2007 following poor sales the previous year. Then to make matters worse, the Great Recession happened, which led to sales plummeting even further.

It wasn’t all bad luck though, Daimler had made their fair share of mistakes. For example, journalists at the time who wanted to test the car weren’t allowed to drive it as Daimler said the car was mainly designed for rear seat occupants. Furthermore, the Maybachs were extremely overpriced, and according to many critics, it was too similar to the very high-end Mercedes models of the time. In 2010, Rolls-Royce had sold 2,711 Phantoms. Maybach only sold 157 units that year. Daimler pulled the plug by the end of 2011, but the damage was done. Maybach had earned the reputation of being “a boring, overpriced Mercedes” and Daimler lost nearly $400,000 for every car they sold. These days the Maybach name is used to denote the top trim levels of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and GLS-Class, and while these cars are still phenomenal, BMW Group and Volkswagen have achieved much more success with RR and Bentley.

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