It seems that after Mercedes announced how they’ve decided to kill off the Maybach brand due to low sales some players really want its market share.
One would think there’s too little of it to matter but that’s not the way the British at Bentley see the problem.
Maybach only had a target of around 1000 cars a year and they’ve fallen well short of it by several hundred but in this segment, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Grabbing some of the high end customers Maybach has been catering to would mean a chance at an enormous “free” marketing boost.
Targeting celebrity endorsements could lead to Maybach fighters such as the Bentley Mulsanne, or maybe even the Continental GT appearing in more music videos and even movies.
That would snowball the publicity of these models, thus placing the British in a very pleasant position.
The attempt to woo these customers began with Samuel L Jackson, Jay-Z, the Sultan of Brunei, the King of Spain; Juan Carlos and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Each of them received a special letter containing an invitation for a tour of the company’s Crewe facility in an attempt to gain some extra attention.
It’s easy to see how a few customers can make that sort of difference but Bentley’s plan doesn’t seem that solid at the moment.
It may even have loyal customers return to Maybach and buy the last models they’re making, even at the recently bumped price.
Or, they could, you know, opt for the arch-rival Rolls Royce Phantom.
It’s gonna be like the Phaeton. Super big and super nice, but way too expensive and ndooby really bought them. They’ll shelve the brand (pay attention to how fast they do this GM, it’s called listening to the market) and their values will drop accordingly. They will retain their lustre and people who otherwise might never afford one, might find that, for $80,000, they’ll give it a shot.These were saloons of epic proportions, but there was always something sterile and unappealing about them. Maybe it’s because it’s not the sort of car you’re supposed to enjoy driving as much as riding in.