Stuttgart (Germany), Nov.26 (ANI): German firm Daimler AG has decided to discontinue its Maybach ultra-luxury cars after failing to find a fix for their dwindling sales and lack of profitability.
According to Fox News, the decision comes barely a decade after resuscitating the Maybach brand.
The German luxury carmaker said it plans to expand its top-of-the line Mercedes-Benz segment -- the S-Class -- to six variations from the current three when a new generation of the flagship model is launched in 2013.
Until then, Daimler said it would continue to produce the ultra-premium Maybach.
Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said the decision to discontinue the Maybach brand was aimed at bolstering sales in the highest end of its luxury model lineup, a task the loss-making Maybach failed to achieve from the start.
Though the plush ride and its 375,250 dollars starting price turned heads at auto shows, its sales have steadily faltered, shrinking to fewer than 200 Maybachs globally last year.
"We came to the strong conclusion that the sales chances for the Mercedes brand are much stronger than those for Maybach," Zetsche was quoted as saying in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung interview, whose contents Daimler confirmed.
Daimler currently sells close to 80,000 S-Class models, which start at 91,850 dollars, a year. (ANI)
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