Here's an idea: take a ridiculously expensive car and make it impractical. Brilliant! Now, instead of selling 100 cars a year, they'll sell 101! Way to use all that R&D money for good use.
The world has been clamoring for a big limo that is also a semi convertible. Is this Maybach's last attempt at killing itself? Why not put a tub in there, too?
Referenced article
Winding Road: Maybach Landaulet to go on U.S. Sale in December
When a writer begins to stray from the topic:
Today on Mother Proof: 2008 Audi A8 Reviewed. Hey, we're not throwing stones, we do it, too, but we expected more from Mother Proof. If you are dropping this kind of coin on a car, the kids ride with the nanny.
Aw, hell, damn, fart! Next-Gen Acura RL to get a V8 and RWD-biased SH-AWD. Is nothing sacred anymore? What made Acura special is that they didn't fall into the whole V8 movement. And it could have proved pretty dang smart as fuel begins its creep up to $5 by June '09. And this thing'll probably need premium. How the hell you gonna swing your double freakin' mocha latte?
Frakkin' yay! Lincoln likely to kill LT truck. Now to get Cadillac to drop the horrific EXT and we'll be on to something (sales are down 35% anyway... just drop it!)
Oh, as if this wasn't predicted a couple of years ago! (Ha! Get it? We called this sukka years ago when sales were even better than a paltry 2.25 a week or whatever the hell it is) Daimler Mulls Closing the Doors on Maybach. Why did the Maybach fail? Because it was brought over as a first-class passenger on the Queen Elizabeth II? No, despite the grand entrance, the car has no presence. So much so that decent design (again, no presence but a decent design) and moved it to Mercedes' S-Class. Boom! Maybach without the cos... Hell, S-Class is more than we can swing unless we get into Summer. Summer has presence.
Edmunds reports: Rolls-Royce Phantom sales jolly good.
The Maybach is going down like the Titanic while the Rolls is pulling a Carpathia. Well, not exactly since the Carpathia saved some folks from the Titanic. Maybe Rolls is more like the iceberg? Help us here.
Jalopnik reports: Maybach: The End Is Nigh. Of course the car is going to disappear,it's filled with luxury but boring as all hell. It's also a car meant for chauffeurs, not drivers. If folks want to drive a fancy sedan themselves they'll go get a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. They will not buy themselves limousine. Besides, the sorta people who did that kind of stuff now pretend to be regular people, but horde their money and run for office (to get more money).
And, hell, it's not like anyone predicted this would happen (Get it? See? We're trying to tell you that we predicted this almost two years ago!)
Maybach: Maybach? It's a small luxury division of Mercedes-Benz. Anyway, they aren't selling as many cars and we wouldn't be surprised to hear discussions start about closing the division.
You can read the rest of the stuff we made up in our 2006 auto predictions.
