The engine works of Karl Maybach had been very successful in providing reliable and powerful airborne engines during WW I. As a result, the company was renamed in 1918 and from now carried the name Maybach Motorenbau - Maybach Engine Works. The now famous double M logo also was first seen not much later.

Mentoring is essential to the Maybach DNA. Wilhelm Maybach became an orphan at age ten and subsequently was accepted at Bruderhaus orphanage, a new kind of institution in which manufacturing simple machines was part of the program. His talents were discovered by the head of the orphanage who then enabled him to meet Gottlieb Daimler, his most important collaborator in the years that followed. With his groundbreaking constructions, Wilhelm created a reputation of his own and even was described as the king of designers at only age 43. Wilhelm passed on this heritage to his son Karl whom he mentored on technical issues in many letters they wrote each other. Having founded a company of his own, Karl Maybach realized that to ensure the quality of work required, well educated workers were essential. As a result, the ‘Lehrwerkstatt’ (learning workshop) was established in 1919 at Maybach Motorenbau, setting an example for other German companies to this very day. This spirit is continued today in the Maybach Foundation where mentoring is paramount to the program.

The Versaille treaty sets an end date to WW I. It included that Germany ceases the production of military equipment - an aspect that gravely affected Maybach Motorenbau as engines for airships and planes had been the essential product range.

Seven years prior to his death the great contributions Wilhelm Maybach had made to the combustion engine and the modern automobile were finally officially recognized.

The title of honorary doctor in engineering is awarded to Karl (45) by the ‘Wuerttembergische Technische Hochschule’ (Technical University) in Stuttgart. Five years later, at the age 50, he is also awarded honorary citizenship in Friedrichshafen, a town that had become another cradle of the combustion engine due to him.

Karl (47) receives a patent for his strain gauging method “Dehnlinienverfahren”. He uses this technique to determine the appropriate stress distribution to avoid fractures during alternate loading. A resin coating would be applied to the surface of the tested component. During the testing of the component, hairline cracks would appear in the resin, showing the actual areas of tension.

The three corners of the original Maybach Motorenbau ‘double‑M’ logo, are said to represent the three elements in which Maybach engines came to be used. While the impact on mobility “by land” and “by air” is more obvious, there are also stories to be told about Maybach engines powering boats and yachts. Wilhelm Maybach's grandfather clock had already been used in a boat, which has to be seen as another breakthrough as it was a first in history. Later on, Karl Maybach followed in his father’s footsteps and also offered Maybach Motorenbau engines as ‘marinized’ versions. One of the prime examples is the OHEKA II (1927), a special commission by Otto Hermann Kahn, one of the wealthiest men of his time. It was powered by three Maybach VL 2 airship engines, that combined for over 1200 horsepower, making it the fastest ship in its class. Shortly after WWII, Maybach engines once again disrupted an industry: the ‘MD’ engines became the gold standard on the market as the superior fast-running engines for boats, ferries, yachts, and the like. This legacy of technical excellence lives on to this day and can still be found in the motorization of the world’s largest and most powerful yachts.

A crash on the New York stock exchanges leads to the World Economic crisis. As a result 3 million people lost their jobs in 1932.

1921 saw the first car produced independently by Maybach Motorenbau. A variety of technical intricacies (among which the first four-wheel brake system) were installed that made it not only more comfortable and safer to drive but also resulted in increased performance. It was the starting point for many cars that combined high performance with user-friendly features for the driver. Maybach Motorenbau ('Maybach engine works') only provided the chassis with the engine - this led to a variety of different designs as the body work was done according to the customers wishes. The peak of the cars built by Maybach were the twelve-cylinder variants which were a first in Germany. The last model of this vehicle, that was to become a symbol of luxury, was the Zeppelin DS 8 (DS short for double six). Its eight-liter engine with 200 hp managed to propel the vehicle, which could weigh up to three tons with the body included, to 160 km/h. Though its engine is constructively not directly related to the ones used in airships, the name designates where Maybach Engine Works had earned its reputation – the airships and planes conceptualized by Count Zeppelin.

In the mid-1920s Karl Maybach shifted his focus towards the construction of fast running engines for trains, essentially rendering existing solutions inferior. This new strategic outlook was a feasible way to bring the company through adversity. Having had provided high performance engines for airships and planes prior to and during WW I, these products had been banned afterwards due to the Versailles treaty. At the time, steam-powered trains were still the status quo and a fast-running diesel engine for this specific application was not being produced by any of the large industry players. Gradually, 'Maybach Motorenbau' ('Maybach Engine Works') claimed the new terrain with a stubborn attitude. What then followed can only be described as a disruption of an entire industry: powering the so-called SVT trains (“Schnelltriebwagen mit Verbrennungsmotor”) which enabled passengers to travel to all major German cities within a day by reaching world-record speeds of 160 km/h, thereby reshaping society forever. The first train of this new generation was the ‘Flying Hamburger’ built in 1932 which made use of the GO 5 type engine.

Eisenbahn-Verkehrsmittel-AG (E.V.A.), Wismar and Maybach-Motorenbau jointly developed a diesel locomotive. The World’s first large Maybach high-speed diesel engine, type G4 a, engine output is 150 hp. (110 kW)

Karl Maybach (55) works extensively on the turbocharged high-speed large diesel engine. Together with Büchi, he develops the turbocharger concept for the engine type GO 6.