Projo Cars Blog

Mercedes is being forced to cut back on its U.S. Maybach stores, according to Automotive News.

You surprise me.

I have always thought this bizarre car was out of sync with the times. It's not so much that it's enormous and enormously expensive; there are plenty of rich folks out there who want to show it.

But the thing about Mercedes' Maybach is that it's not a driver's car. It's a "being-driven" car and I'm not sure that most of today's super rich want to be driven around like geriatics. The back seats are like those in first class on airplanes: they stretch out to fully reclined and are surrounded by a medley of services for the sedantry.

Time was when being cocooned like this in the back of a massive car with names that harked back to horse-drawn days - coach, brougham, landrau, limousine - was the way to go. Rich meant being old and deserving of privacy, privilege and respect.

But today, being active into advanced years is practically as important as being rich. Rolls-Royce still produces monsters, but most of today's super expensive cars are high performance driver's cars, whether Accuras, Audis, Cadillacs, Bentleys BMWs, Lexuses or other Mercedes-Benzes - to say nothing of Aston Martins, Ferraris or Porsches et al.

Automotive News reports that 29 of Maybach's original 70 U.S. dealerships have given up their franchises and while a Mercedes spokeswoman was quoted as saying: This is just about where we want to be," one has to wonder if that is putting a brave face on it.

After all, Automotive News reports Mercedes had hoped to sell 600 Maybachs a year in the U.S. when it introduced the car about five years ago, but last year sold a paltry 146.

- Peter C. T. Elsworth

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