Bentley Eyes Jay-Z, Samuel L. Jackson and Other High-Profile Maybach Customers

After Daimler announced that it is killing off its failed Maybach brand to concentrate on the next Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Bentley immediately started eyeing up Maybach's customers such as music singer/producer Jay-Z (who, incidentally, destroyed one in a video), King of Spain Juan Carlos, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and the Sultan of Brunei.

“The withdrawal of Maybach is a business opportunity for us and we’re going to use it," Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer told Reuters during the Detroit Motor Show

Duerheimer added that he would invite current Maybach owners for VIP tours in Bentley’s Crewe factory as he wants to create “a specific welcome zone” inside the brand.

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Are 2011 Luxury Car Brand Record Sales a Good Sign for the U.S. Economy?

Bentley saw its global sales increase by a whopping 30 percent worldwide last year. while Rolls-Royce, helped by the launch of the Ghost, sold 3,500 cars in North America, smashing its 2010 record of 2,711 deliveries.

The first thing that comes to mind is that, in the midst of a recession, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Bentley’s North American president Christopher Georges, however, sees things from a different perspective, in that booming sales of uber-luxurious cars are reflecting a confidence in the economy.

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Coachbuilt Maybach 57S Cruisero Coupe Caught on Video

With Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler ready to pull the plug on its Maybach brand less than a decade after its resurrection, Xenatec's plans to build a total of 100 units of the Maybach 57S-based Cruisero Coupe may be seriously compromised.

However, the German coachbuilder has already built some examples of its Maybach-endorsed coupe, one of which was filmed on the road by YouTube user Marchettino, and which you can watch in the video after the break.

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Auf Wiedersehen: Daimler to Pull the Plug on Maybach Brand

During the past decade or so, many carmakers have looked into their past to shape their future: the BMW Group's new Mini, the Fiat Group's 500 and the Volkswagen Group's Beetle are among the most well-known examples. But as Mercedes-Benz found out the hard way, not all second comings prove successful.

And now, only a decade after resuscitating Maybach, Daimler is ready to accept defeat and stop producing the $350,000 luxury limousine when the next generation of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class hits the market in 2013.

“It would not make sense to develop a successor model”, Daimler Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “The coming S-Class is in such a way a superior vehicle that it can replace the Maybach.”

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Hollywood Aroma for 2011 LA Auto Show Design Challenge Concepts

For the past eight years, the LA Auto Show has been playing host to a design contest aimed at automaker design studios. Each year, a new Design Challenge theme is chosen with the studios showcasing their conceptual ideas during the press days of the show.

For 2011, the motorshow organizers are asking six automotive design studios from around the world, including Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Maybach to come up with Hollywood’s next hottest movie car.

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Kanye West and Jay-Z Destroy $300,000 Maybach in their New Music Video Just for Fun

It’s no secret that rappers like to show off their expensive and usually over the top blinged-up luxury cars in their music videos as a means to prove their status. However, world-famous artists Kanye West and Jay-Z may have gone a little too far in their new “Otis” music video.

The two rappers obviously wanted to do something different than just flaunt their ultra-expensive sets of wheels, so they grabbed a welding torch and a metal cutting saw and obliterated a $300,000 Maybach.

Who knows, maybe they thought it looked better that way... You can watch the video after the jump.

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British Royal Wedding Inspires Project Kahn’s Maybach 57 Tune

Project Kahn is jumping the shark on the royal wedding bandwagon with a special tune to celebrate Prince William and Kate Middleton's big day on April 29. Traditionally, royal weddings have been marked by commemorative stamps, coins and memorabilia, but times have changed and the British aftermarket specialist’s tribute is a subtly modified Maybach 57 limousine. Read more »

Maybach 57 S Coupe by Xenatec to Debut in Geneva...but not at the Show

German coachbuilder Xenatec will bring the new Maybach 57 S-based coupe to Geneva for the car's first public appearance. Strangely enough, the place chosen for the reveal will not be the Geneva motor show at the Palexpo center, but a specially built pavilion in the gardens of “La Reserve” hotel on the banks of Lake Geneva. The company's decision might have something to do with Maybach being present at the show, but this has not been confirmed.

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Forbes' Top 10 List of the Most Expensive Cars in the World

For most people a $50,000 car is well out of reach, while others happily spend double or triple of that amount on a ride. However, even those enthusiasts might not be so keen to whip out their checkbooks when confronted with the price tag of these vehicles featured in a special list compiled by Forbes.

These are the most expensive cars in the world, usually bought by the kind of people who don’t even break a sweat amidst the worst economic crisis. Forbes' list in not without its flaws as the publication added two vehicles (the Enzo's successor and the upcoming Pagani Zonda C9) that have yet to be revealed, let alone be priced. Nevertheless, you can check out the complete list of exclusive toys for the real tycoons after the jump.

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First Maybach 57S Cruisero Coupe by Xenatec Listed for Sale in Saudi Arabia

The very first example of the Xenatec Maybach 57S Coupe has been put up for sale by Saudi-Arabian-based luxury car dealer, AutoKingdom, which is one of two companies outside of Germany listed as an official dealer of the limited production model, the other being the ArmorTech Group from Russia.

The Maybach-endorsed coupe, which carries the 'Cruiserio' nametag, is priced by AutoKingdom at €715,000, or about US$943,000 at the current exchange rates, according to Jameslist. Previously, Xenatec had announced that the über-luxurious coupe will be offered at an ex-works price of €675,000 (US$890,000) excluding local taxes.

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Mercedes and Aston Martin Working Together to Save Maybach?

Mercedes-Benz finally appears to be getting its head straight in regards to the laughable Maybach brand. The Financial Times indicates that Mercedes is courting Aston Martin to help bring the Maybach name back from the brink; the plan is to allow the British automaker to both design and manufacture Benz's Bentley competitor.

All these murmurings involve a lot of back-and-forth; in this case, Aston would do Mercedes's Maybach work, while Mercedes could provide powertrain tech to the British marque (think smaller displacement engines). Apparently outsourcing the next Maybach's assembly and coachwork to Aston could be cheaper than if Mercedes did it on its own.

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LA Auto Show Design Contest Part 1: Cadillac, Honda, Maybach and Mazda Concepts

For the past seven years, the most important automotive design studios in Southern California compete in a Design Challenge organized by the Los Angeles Auto Show. For this year's edition of the show, which runs November 19-29, the event planners decided to add an international flavor to the contest by inviting studios from Germany and Japan to join the competition for the very first time.

The theme for the 2010 Design Challenge is the creation of a super-efficient and lightweight four-passenger car: "The objective is to envision an efficient, light-weight, four passenger vehicle (not to exceed 1,000 lbs.), that is both comfortable and safe, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the styling consumers demand. "

Follow the break for the first group of concept models by Cadillac, Honda, Maybach and Mazda, and stay tuned for the second part.

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Xenatec Officially Introduces Maybach 57S Coupe, Priced Close to $1 Million

Remember Xenatec, the German coachbuilders who took the overblown Maybach 57 S and massaged it into a svelte looking two door coupe? We now have some pictures of the production model, including a first look at the interior.

Just 100 units of the Xenatec Coupe will be built, with the high asking price of €675,000 (US$923,198) before taxes. And that's even before you add taxes or options. It was designed by Fredrik Burchhardt, who created Maybach's retro-modern Excelero concept back in 2005.

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Mercedes-Benz Reprises Role in Sex and the City 2 Film [with Video]

Question for our readers: In your opinion, how do four cougar-aged women who can't keep their panties (or their brains) on after one shot of tequila and a guy named 'Mr Big' relate to Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and Maybach products/brand?

While you think about it let us tell you that, as with the first installment of the male-snoozefest that is "Sex and the City", the sequel to the movie that hits cinemas on 27 May will see most characters driving or being driven in a bunch of Mercedes-Benz and Maybach models.

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Maybach Coupe 57S: Official Pictures of Limited Production Special by Xenatec

Since Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler has no official plans to introduce an 'uber' luxurious coupe for its fading Maybach brand, the company gave its blessing to German-based engineering firm Xenatec to create a two-door version of the Maybach 57S.

Said to be developed in close cooperation with Maybach, the 57S Coupe special will be built in a strictly limited number of 100 examples each priced from a hefty €650,000 or about US$805,000 at today's exchange rates.

The transformation from a limo to a coupe includes redesigned A-, B- and C-columns with the second column moved back by 200mm, a more raked roofline, restyled front and rear ends, and a slightly wider body while retaining the same 3.39m-long wheelbase as the sedan model.

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Beijing Auto Show: Maybach's Face-lifted Offerings

Maybach, Daimler's Bentley/Roller division, is debuting the face-lifted versions of its 57 and 62 models in Beijing (now "with added sparkle"!). What can we expect from the little mega-luxury brand that couldn't?

First off, the body gets a few pinches here and there: a redesigned front bumper gets some extra trim, the new arrow-shaped hood gets snazzy edges and bigger, aerodynamic mirrors improve merging and now reduce driving noise.

Outside, the newish models will also feature more bling in the form of "a large new chrome radiator grille", LED daytime running lights, "high-quality dark red taillights", and "stylish wheels".

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Last Call for an Overpriced, Outdated S-Class: Maybach Might be Shuttered, After All

This is could be the end of the road for Maybach, the über-luxury marque that was re-launched by Mercedes-Benz in 2002. Mercedes' attempt to snag market share in the upper echelon of the luxury market (i.e. from Rolls-Royce and Bentley) has fallen relatively flat on its face, mostly thanks to insane pricing, relatively-dated styling, and shady Wall Street-ers losing everyone's money.

Admittedly, the Landaulet is pretty unique, but why anyone would end up paying almost $1.4 million for a stretched, previous-generation S-Class with a cloth top and a 5-speed automatic transmission is beyond me.

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