Daimler Not Giving Up On Going After Rolls-Royce and Bentley, New “Super S Class” to Go On Sale in 2015

Though Daimler shuttered its Maybach ultra-luxury brand, it isn't giving up on selling cars in the $200,000+ price range. With the $470,000  Maybach, Mercedes-Benz tried to compete with ne plus ultra cars like the Bentley Mulsanne and Rolls Royce Phantom. In the ten years that the Maybach was produced, Daimler sold about 3,000 of them, about how many Phantoms Rolls-Royce sells in a year. The German automaker is still going after those brands, but at a lower price point. Starting in 2015, the so-called 'Super S Class', as it is known internally, will instead compete with the Rolls-Royce Ghost and the Bentley Flying Spur, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview.  Currently, M-B's most expensive cars are its higher performance AMG models, which can run close to $200K, and Zetsche says that the new sedan will give the company a larger market share in that price segment independent of AMG branded cars. One of the complaints about the Maybach was that it was not perceived as being sufficiently different from the S Class cars to justify the large price differential. Zetsche said that the new car will have exclusive technology and interior appointments to differentiate it from regular S Class models. Since all automaker in the segment do it, it is likely that some kind of personalization program, for 'off the menu' options, will be offered. Zetsche also said that the company will have a "much better cost basis" for the new high end car, compared to the Maybach. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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