There is something profoundly fascinating about the story of Maybach: a marque that, at one point, seemed to disappear like a gentle ghost, only to reappear in modern times – always true to itself, and yet never quite the same. A brand born from the very heart of the mechanical revolution, when exclusivity rhymed with performance, and revived whenever someone felt the need to redefine what the word “luxury” truly means. This is why, in the pages of this Roots Issue, the story of the brand founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach appears as a perfect tale: a story of deep roots that continue to nourish, silently, the trunk and branches of a tree that no storm has ever managed to break, not even when it was transplanted into another garden. A story of a business, certainly, but also of a family.
Say Maybach, and you immediately think of the glorious German automobile industry at the dawn of motoring. Powerful engines, elegant bodywork, the privilege of the few who could drive an automobile while the world still moved by carriage. And of today’s cars as well – machines capable of speed and power, yet recognized above all for their supreme aesthetic luxury. Two design philosophies that might seem worlds apart, yet joined by a clientele that has changed little in over 115 years: dignitaries, heads of state, tycoons, and celebrities. The Maybachs were never merely engineers or builders: today, as then, they remain interpreters of an almost spiritual idea of precision. Wilhelm, the patriarch, believed that technical perfection had a moral dimension – that elegance was not a question of appearance, but of proportion. It was an idea that, a century later, would lead to cars in which luxury is measured in the silence of their motion and the soft precision with which a door closes. But before comfort came the workshop, the apprenticeship, the smell of oil at temperature and the sound of pistons moving up and down in a dim workshop in Cannstatt. That same devotion to doing things properly lives on today with the current generation of the family, represented by Ulrich Maybach – no longer at the helm of an automaker, but applying the same discipline to entrepreneurship, venture capital, and philanthropy.
Power and Airships
Wilhelm Maybach was born in 1846 and grew up with the curiosity of a visionary. At just fifteen, he was an orphan apprentice at the benevolent Reutlinger Brüderhaus, where he met a certain Gottlieb Daimler who decided to take him under his wing. It was an encounter destined to change the history of the automobile: two kindred minds united by a vision that at the time seemed almost science fiction – building lightweight engines to move carriages without horses. Together they created the first prototypes, whose simplicity might make us smile today, but which were pure witchcraft back in those days. When Daimler died in 1900, Maybach remained the most faithful guardian of his vision. For years he continued to develop engines under the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft name, but in 1909 he decided to strike out on his own, founding in Bissingen what would become Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH. At his side was his son Karl, heir to that calm, obsessive intelligence that made the Maybachs a dynasty of perfectionists. Maybach engines powered Zeppelin airships, but Karl steered the company toward the creation of automobiles that seemed to belong to another dimension: the DS7 and DS8 Zeppelin of the 1930s were true cathedrals of automotive luxury. Twelve cylinders, interiors in walnut and velvet, details executed with almost jeweler-like precision. Maybach sedans were not bought; they were commissioned – customers knowing that the car would arrive months later, but flawless. These cars were so advanced that they inspired Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza and earned a reputation for power and reliability. In an era when luxury was still synonymous with weight and grandeur, Maybach proved that lightness and silence could be gifts too – so long as they sacrificed nothing in performance. Then came the war, and with it the end of a pioneering yet glorious era. The company was forced to focus on engines for military vehicles and aircraft. When Germany awoke from the horrors of war, Maybach cars were just a memory – a name perhaps diminished, but not forgotten. The bond with excellence was too strong, the roots too deep to be erased.
In the Arms of the Star
Maybach-Motorenbau survived by producing diesel engines for trains and ships, and at that moment the dream of cars bearing its monogram seemed gone forever. Then, in 1960, Daimler-Benz officially acquired Maybach: more of a natural transition than a takeover. The two names had long been connected, bound by a shared technical and human bond. Daimler did not buy the marque for immediate profit, but to safeguard its heritage – an act of respect that was later rewarded by the enduring loyalty of the Maybach family which, though distant from the decision-making rooms, always stood by the House of the Star, even in the less dazzling financial seasons. The acquisition marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. Maybach became a technical division within Daimler, contributing to the design of transmissions and special engines for tanks, locomotives, and industrial vehicles. In the hallways of Stuttgart, the name remained synonymous with rigor and precision, even if its emblem no longer adorned the hoods of kings’ and statesmen’s cars. Yet the group, with an almost philanthropic gesture, kept the name alive. They knew it was not merely a brand, but a precious root. And roots, even when unseen, can hold up mountains.
New Lifeblood on the Eve of the Millennium
By the 1990s, in a fully globalized era, Stuttgart decided to dust off that name that had long slept in its archives. The world of automotive luxury had changed: Rolls-Royce and Bentley embodied British opulence, and even the German marques, including Mercedes-Benz itself, spoke the language of luxury – but without such a distinct accent. What better voice than Maybach to represent pure German exclusivity? Thus were born the Maybach 57 and 62, officially presented in 2002: monumental limousines, longer than a S-Class and quieter than a Gothic cathedral. Every detail was a tribute to the cult of perfection. The rear seats reclined into beds, the climate control offered four separate zones, and even the sound of the closing doors was tuned to produce a noise “more like a sigh than a click,” as one Sindelfingen engineer put it. Yet sales did not reward the effort. Too classical, too distant from an era that was beginning to favor SUVs and sharper lines. After a decade, in 2012, the parent company decided to suspend production. Three years later, however, the marque was reborn in a different, maybe more sustainable form: Mercedes-Maybach, no longer an independent brand but the pinnacle expression of the Mercedes-Benz range. It was an intelligent shift in perspective: rather than chasing Bentley or Rolls-Royce, Maybach returned to being the purest essence of comfort and German craftsmanship – the magic touch that elevated Stuttgart’s already premium models. Since then, the story has flowed again. The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class – recently enriched by a special V12 celebratory edition – became the manifesto of this new chapter, followed by the EQS and GLS SUVs carrying the monogram on their hoods, and most recently, the SL 680 roadster: a gesture of freedom, a car that translates exclusivity into the pleasure of open-air travel, breathing the same air Wilhelm and Karl might have inhaled on their test drives along Lake Constance or through the curves of the Black Forest. A kind of return to the origins – or better yet, to the roots – expressed in a contemporary language.
The Power of Family
There is, however, another story—parallel and complementary—that runs quietly beside the industrial one. It’s the story of the family, represented today by Ulrich Schmid-Maybach. Great-grandson of Wilhelm and custodian of a heritage that is both moral and economic, Ulrich embodies the ethos of the marque while having no jurisdiction over its strategic or aesthetic decisions. He has become, with effortless genuineness, its ambassador: a presence that transcends protocol and corporate events. Ulrich is the human face of a legacy built on values—discretion, precision, respect. A witness to the greatness of the Maybachs, found as much in numbers as in the power of hands: the hands that once drew, invented, built, and checked every detail, and that today invest in ventures in San Francisco, launch lines of ultra-luxury accessories sold in open flagship stores around the world, or work toward creating a museum for the marque in Friedrichshafen. Hands that longer build cars, true. And yet the bond remains deep. It is a rare relationship, made of mutual respect: on one side, the industrial giant carrying the marque forward with all its might; on the other, a family that watches over its soul. Two different realities, perfectly aligned in a vision: to preserve the essence of an idea that crosses time without betraying itself.
Commitment, Heritage, and Future
The story of a brand like Maybach does not end with its automobiles. The roots that the family planted—first in Cannstatt and Bissingen, then in Friedrichshafen, within workshops, archives, and enthusiasts’ memories—continue to bear fruit today. In this sense, the work of the Wilhelm & Karl Maybach Foundation is emblematic: founded to preserve the founders’ legacy and foster new talent, it is active on multiple fronts. On one hand, it safeguards archives, materials, and testimonies; on the other, it promotes mentorship and cultural initiatives that have less to do with automobiles and more to do with the attitude of “doing things right” that Wilhelm Maybach embodied. Among its most recent projects is its collaboration with the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. association in Friedrichshafen, aimed at creating a permanent museum dedicated to the marque – a space where engines, automobiles, stories, and documents coexist in public exhibitions. The idea may not be new, but it is powerful: to give the roots a physical home, one that is not just an archive but an experience. Friedrichshafen—the city that saw Maybach-Motorenbau flourish and was the stage for innovation in airships, engines, and extraordinary sedans – was chosen for good reason. The pop-up exhibition “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles 1921–2021,” inaugurated in 2022, offered a preview of what that museum may become: a hybrid portal, both physical and digital, to give value to the roots even when no one is watching.
This way of being also reflects itself in today’s Mercedes-Maybach models. Building extraordinary cars is not enough; one must do so with awareness. Hybrid technologies, sustainable materials, artisanal craftsmanship – all are signs that roots are not only signs of the past to admire, but the foundation for tomorrow. The vision of the Maybach family and that of Mercedes-Benz are two distinct yet parallel lines. The great carmaker walks the path of modernity; the family guards the one of memory. Together, they show that eternal quality does not demand applause, only fidelity. And perhaps that is the secret of a marque that, after more than a century, still speaks softly yet with authority. The roots – the true ones – remain invisible. But without them, nothing grows. And so, every time a Mercedes-Maybach door closes with that muted, perfect sound, one can almost hear the distant echo of an old workshop somewhere in Baden-Württemberg.
Original Article: https://wheelz-mag.it/maybach-e-il-radicamento-dellesclusivita/
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