奔驰迈巴赫豪车黯然退场

    由于“迈巴赫”并不像戴姆勒或法拉利那样家喻户晓，因此奔驰花费了大量时间为这款车型打造一些个性。顾客可以像装饰游艇一样装饰自己的车，花上几个小时的时间选择内饰的织物、颜色、皮革和木头等。

    要想确定顾客愿意为这种奢侈品花费多少钱，一定要先做些研究。梅赛德斯奔驰将概念车空运到香港、摩纳哥、纽约，然后对潜在买家进行民意调查。结果显示有意购买豪车的顾客可能对价格并不是十分敏感，但是却喜欢讨价还价。有些顾客甚至要求赠品——比如买车时赠送一辆价值11.5万美元的奔驰SL跑车作为赠品。

    奔驰在2002年将迈巴赫推向市场，当时引起了不小的轰动。美国市场上的第一台迈巴赫是摆在一艘轮船的甲板上运到纽约市的，然后用一架直升飞机吊起来，运到华尔街附近的一个降落地点。威廉•迈巴赫的女儿已经垂垂老矣，但也出现在了该车的各种促销活动上。整个场面都沸腾了。“根据我们的调查，有足够的顾客有能力购买这样一辆轿车，”奔驰销售与市场总监乔阿希姆•施密特表示：“只要特性鲜明，就有机会卖出1,000台。”

    当然，迈巴赫显然不够特别。它成了一辆非常昂贵的礼宾车。宾利和劳斯莱斯背后都有各自的历史。而且虽说劳斯莱斯的顾客大多都有自己的司机，但偶尔在必要的时候也会自己亲自开车。而迈巴赫从来没有宣称自己是一辆适合车主自驾的轿车。许多汽车记者在评测时都坚持要亲手开上一会儿，才肯给出正面的评价，但最后还是被请到了后排座位上。所有的活动都是在后排座位上进行的，迈巴赫的后排座位可以像飞机的商务舱座位一样向后方倾斜，而且还有头枕和延伸出来的踏脚板。坐在这儿的幸运大佬可以使用车内的冰箱、雪茄保湿盒，以及其它一些奔驰公司觉得对于上流社会人士十分重要的物件。

    但迈巴赫并未引起上流社会的共鸣。即便在中国豪车市场飞速发展的情况下，迈巴赫的销量也仍然止步不前。很快人们就看出这个品牌陷入了麻烦，而奔驰公司也明智地没有花钱为迈巴赫的产品线升级换代。据《汽车新闻》（Automotive News）报道，2010年，迈巴赫这个将满10岁的品牌在全球只卖出了157台轿车，而同年宝马却卖出了2,711台售价相差无几的劳斯莱斯。

    迈巴赫就此安歇了，但奔驰并不会放弃超豪华汽车市场。奔驰计划将产品线中最高级的S级轿车由当前的3款车型扩展成6款车型，而最新一代的旗舰车型也将于2013年推出。

    我们希望这一次它不会再以一个造飞艇的家伙来命名。

    译者：朴成奎

    Since "Maybach" was not exactly a household name like Daimler or Ferrari, Mercedes worked overtime to create some personality for its cars. Customers were expected to equip their autos the way they would a yacht, spending hours selecting fabrics, colors, hides, and woods.

    Determining exactly how much customers were willing to pay for this kind of extravagance required some research. Mercedes flew the concept car to Hong Kong, Monaco, and New York City to poll potential buyers. It discovered that customers may not have been very price-sensitive, but they did appreciate a bargain. Some even asked for freebies -- like a $115,000 Mercedes SL roadster -- to be included with their purchase.

    Mercedes brought Maybach to market with a splash in 2002. For the U.S., it shipped the first car to New York on the deck of a ship and lifted it by helicopter to a landing place near Wall Street. The aging daughter of Wilhelm Maybach was enlisted to appear at various promotional events. The atmosphere was frothy. "Based on our research, there are enough customers who are able to afford such a car," said Joachim Schmidt, head of Mercedes's sales and marketing. "If you deliver something very special, then you have a chance to sell 1,000 cars."

    Not special enough, apparently. The Maybach turned out to be a very expensive limo. Bentley and Rolls had histories behind them, and while the Rolls customer expected to be driven in his car, he could, in a pinch, drive it himself. Maybach never made a pretense of being an owner-driven vehicle. Automotive journalists, many of whom insist upon sitting behind the wheel before making a positive judgment on a vehicle, were offered rides as passengers instead. All the action was in the rear seats that reclined like those in an airplane's business class, with pillowed headrests and extended footrests. The lucky rider could access in-car refrigerators, cigar humidors and other appurtenances thought to be essential for membership in the upper classes.

    It just didn't compute. Even the booming luxury car market in China wasn't enough to move Maybach off the starting line. It quickly became apparent that the brand was in trouble, and Mercedes sensibly never invested in updating the model line. In 2010 only 157 Maybachs -- from a brand nearly a decade old -- were sold globally, according to Automotive News, while BMW moved 2,711 similarly priced Rolls.

    With Maybach put to rest, Mercedes won't be abandoning the ultra-luxury segment. It plans to expand its top-of-the line Mercedes segment -- the S-Class -- to six variations from the current three when a new generation of the flagship model is launched in 2013.

    One hopes that it doesn't decide to name them after a guy who designed blimps.