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DaimlerChrysler ups the ante on super-luxury automobiles

A 2004 DaimlerChrysler Maybach 62 will set you back US$359,000, before extras. Penny pinchers needn't despair: The smaller Maybach 57 costs a mere US$308,000.

I figure any car that costs that much ought to come with its own driver. And mine did. His name was James (of course). His job was to brief me on DaimlerChrysler AG's new super-luxury sedan before handing me the keys for a day.

There's no way around it: You've got to be pulling down some serious money not to be cowed by a car that fetches more than twice as much as a typical US home (US$144,000 last year). So what do you get for US$300,000? The new Maybach resurrects one of the most-legendary marques in automotive history. The name often draws blank stares in the US: Maybach doesn't resonate the way Bentley and Rolls Royce do.

The reaction is different across the Atlantic, though.

Before BMW and Porsche came along, Wilhelm Maybach designed the first Mercedes, in 1901. His car -- with a front-mounted aluminum engine, twin camshafts and a pioneering, honeycomb radiator -- begat the Mercedes dynasty. Wilhelm's son, Karl, went on to make his family name synonymous with luxury motoring.

Karl's Maybachs, made from 1920 to 1939, culminated in the DS 8 Zeppelin sedan. That car featured the same 12-cylinder engine that powered Germany's famous airships. It sold for US$29,000 -- about as much as the 2004 Maybach in today's dollars.

The Maybach is as exclusive today as it was in the 1920s and 1930s. DaimlerChrysler hopes to sell 400 Maybachs in the US this year. Each one is built -- largely by hand -- to customers' specifications. The hefty price tag gets buyers a "personal liaison manager," whom they can contact at any time to help them select custom paint, fine woods and buttery-soft leathers. With a bow to history, DaimlerChrysler has replaced the Mercedes three-pointed-star hood ornament with a subtle double M inside a triangle, which originally stood for Maybach Motorenbau.

The new 12-cylinder versions sport features Wilhelm and Karl couldn't have dreamed of. The cheaper 57, at 5.7m, is designed for people who actually want to drive their Maybach. The longer, 6.2m 62 -- replete with fully reclining, aircraft-style seats in the back -- is for those with a full-time James of their own.

SUBTLETY

From the outside, the Maybach's swooping, aerodynamic form stands in sharp relief to the forms of squared-off Bentleys and Rolls Royces. If wowing the neighbors is your goal, look elsewhere. The Maybach's real luxury is inside.

"The car is not meant to be in your face," says Wayne Killen, DaimlerChrysler's Maybach representative in the US.

Both Maybachs come with 22-speaker surround-sound systems linked to a radio/CD/DVD/TV system with two LCD screens in the back. A small joystick lets you adjust the sound by using a digital model of the car's interior.

A Detroit area audio expert, Steven Sinkoff, gave the system a listen and said it was among the best he'd ever heard. Even so, many Maybach buyers would probably want to add a customized system -- for another $50,000 -- Sinkoff says. Don't worry about watching your DVDs sans munchies: The Maybach comes with a refrigerator between the rear seats.

The list of options goes on and on, if you've got the money.

For example, DaimlerChrysler will install a glass roof that dims with the flick of a switch. Pile on options, and the price of a Maybach 62 can quickly reach US$400,000.

The massive, 12-cylinder engine pushes the Maybach 57 from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds -- not bad for a car that's 19 feet long.

Everywhere I stopped, people invariably gawked and asked, "What kind of car is that?"

No one knew what a Maybach was. I ended up explaining it was a "really expensive Mercedes."
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