One of the first owners of this car is the Rap star Ja Rule!!!!!
This car is made by Chrysler and Bens. Check out the interior to this car!!! I know its not a S class but theres no Maybach and it is like a longer and better S class.
I dont own this car i just wanted to show everyone how nice it is. This car costs around $300,000 and has a V12 with 550 HP. I think it is the nicest car in the world. Its fast and high end luxury. It is as long as a limo too. How sweet!!
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
->
Heres a little article
The lights were dim, the crowds were large, and a thick pane of glass separated DaimlerChrysler�s new Maybach from those hoping to get a first glimpse of the eagerly awaited ultra-luxury sedan.
The first showing of the $330,000 Maybach at the Geneva Motor Show quite literally left plenty to the imagination, with a full roll-out on the drawing boards for the Paris Motor Show next September. Only a select group of journalists, meanwhile, were invited for the private showing of Bentley�s new $150,000 GT Coupe. It, too, won�t be seen in the full sheet metal until autumn. And the all-new supercar from Rolls-Royce was absent entirely at Geneva, likely not to be revealed until early next year.
Such secrecy might once have seemed out of place, perhaps even unseemly, in the rarified atmosphere in which such brands compete. But the idea of any competition at all is new to the ultra-luxury world. The segment itself is minute: if you draw the boundary at the $150,000 mark, the line separating largely hand-built machines from those rolled off an assembly line, volumes totaled perhaps 20,000 last year. In a global motor vehicle market of more than 50 million annually, that barely deserves an asterisk on the sales charts.
Yet an assortment of manufacturers seem determined to capture a piece of the ultra-luxury market, many of them new to the segment. The question is whether there�s enough room for them all, or whether these often ego-driven ventures will wind up as costly fiascoes.
Divorce, British style
Two of the best-known nameplates are getting ready to undergo a corporate divorce. Bentley and Rolls-Royce have been paired for more than 70 years, and during much of that time, marketed essentially the same vehicles distinguished by little more than their badges. But a bitter bidding war will lead to their being surgically separated at the end of the year. Rolls will abandon its ancestral home in Crewe, England, for a new plant south of London. The stately marque�s new parent, BMW AG, is quietly developing an all-new model it hopes will bring the brand up to date.
Bentley, meanwhile, will remain in Crewe, though it will now be run by another Teutonic automaker, Volkswagen AG. And VW�s initial strategy is to move the brand slightly downmarket. Though details of the GT Coupe remain a closely held secret, it�s expected to hark back to an era when Bentley was known as a performance luxury brand. And at somewhere north of $150,000, the Coupe will aim to appeal to owners of more mass-market machines, such as the Mercedes-Benz S600, who want something more exclusive.
DaimlerChrysler dropped out of the bidding for Rolls-Royce and Bentley, opting to revive a top-line nameplate it hadn�t sold since World War II. Named for Wilhelm Maybach, the engineering genius who helped design the very first Mercedes, the reborn brand is aimed at creating �a new summit,� according to DCX Board Member Juergen Hubbert.
Scheduled for a European launch this coming autumn and a U.S. debut in early 2003, Maybach will offer two versions of the sedan it teased the public with in Geneva. There�ll be a standard wheelbase, performance-oriented model, and a long-wheelbase version aimed at those who like to live in chauffeured luxury. Both cars will be powered by an all-new, 550-horsepower V-12, which would make this the most powerful luxury sedan ever built. Each car will be built to order, and the price tag will soar from a starting point of more than $300,000.
Company studies suggest there are about 8,000 super-rich motorists who might be able to afford such a car each year, �not that they will (buy one), but they can,� explained Dr. Hermann Gaus, who heads the new DCX division.
DaimlerChrysler is expecting sales of somewhere between 1200 and 1500 a year. Rolls, meanwhile, can be expected to aim for similar volumes if it expects to recoup the investment it�s believed to be making in its new model. The Bentley GT Coupe stretches the boundaries of ultra-luxury downward a bit, and hopes to tap into even more potential buyers, with a goal of 5000 or more GT Coupes alone each year. Its higher-end sedans have been delivering volumes in excess of 1500 annually, and will go through their own remake soon.
Heady targets
Automotive analysts and industry insiders are nervously watching to see if there�s enough room for all the current and new players to meet their heady targets.
The emergence of so many ultra-luxury nameplates is being driven by several factors, not all of them justified by bottom-line economics. The German auto industry is a battleground of egos, observers say, and once one brand got into the fray, all were bound to seek a piece of the action.
Consider Volkswagen. Traditionally playing at the lower end of the spectrum, VW is in the midst of reinventing itself. Its outgoing chairman, Ferdinand Piech, not only acquired Bentley, but also ordered the revival of the legendary Bugatti brand. Even the flagship VW nameplate is seeking a piece of the upmarket action. Geneva saw the launch of the new Phaeton, a sleek and sophisticated sedan aiming to compete with the likes of the Mercedes S-Class.
Such moves might have been easier to justify to board members and shareholders a few years ago, when many of the world�s major economies were booming. �Everybody (wanted) a piece of the action,� said Ferrari�s North American CEO, Stuart Robinson. But with Europe, the U.S. and Japan all facing economic struggles right now, Robinson argues that, �Without a doubt, not all of these players will succeed.�
Not everyone is so pessimistic. Indeed, Ferrari has done quite well itself in recent years, struggling to keep up with growing demand for its own sports cars, such as the new 575M Maranello, which was launched at Geneva�s PalExpo center. �We have a long waiting list for this car,� noted Ferrari CEO Luca de Montezemelo.
Michael O�Driscoll, the man who heads U.S. operations for Ford Motor Co.�s so-called �Brit Group,� which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, believes there is �certainly an ultra-luxury market emerging,� and one that might be able to absorb most or all the new players.
But O�Driscoll cautions that simply putting a big number on your sticker price won�t ensure success. �It will depend on your product. If it�s not authentic, you�ll get nailed,� he cautions.
For years, Rolls and Bentley coasted largely on legend. Their products became, over time, increasingly outdated, the former Rolls-Royce Motors unable to afford what it would take to make them competitive. And that was a major reason the company was sold and split up. The Rolls and Bentley that will shortly emerge will be playing in a very different world. It�s likely to be larger, but will certainly prove more competitive. And as with the rest of the auto industry, it will be a buyer�s market, albeit for consumers with astronomical sums to spend.
