#8 - Maybach Landaulet - $1.3M

The Maybach 62 Landaulet, based on the Maybach 62S, revives the classic landaulet car body style, which was popular in the 1920s and 30s. Powered by the 62S's 612-horsepower (456 kW) biturbo V12, the Landaulet's front seats are fully enclosed and separated from the rear passenger compartment by a power divider window; the opacity of this partition can be electronically controlled.
A sliding soft roof allows back-seat passengers to take in the sun from the comfort of their seats. The chauffeur's area is finished in black leather, while the rear is white with piano black- and gold-flecked black granite inserts.
Maybach publicly unveiled the Landaulet at the Middle East International Auto Show around the end of November 2007 as a concept car. Limited production was confirmed in January 2008.

Sales

Initially, Daimler-Chrysler predicted annual sales of 2,000 global units with 50% coming from the United States; however, such lofty sales expectations never materialized. In 2007 Mercedes bought back 29 US dealers, reducing the total from 71 to 42.

2013 cessation

With poor sales expectations and heavy impact of 2008 financial crises, Daimler AG undertook a review of the whole Maybach division. These included talks with Aston Martin to engineer and style the next generation of Maybach models along with the next generation of Lagonda models.
However, on 25 November 2011, Daimler announced that sales of all Maybach models and the brand would cease in 2013. Before the announcement, only 3000 Maybach vehicles had been sold, with estimated loss of €330,000 for each car sold.
The line will be replaced by Mercedes-Benz S-Class Pullman models. An executive told a Frankfurt newspaper that: "(Daimler) came to the conclusion that the sales chances for the Mercedes brand were better than that of Maybach."
One suggestion for Maybach's struggles was that parent Daimler had failed to differentiate it from its Mercedes-Benz brand. While all three ultra-luxury brands share platforms and engines with other luxury brands from their parent auto company, Maybachs are built alongside the Mercedes-Benz S-Class flagship sedan, whereas Rolls-Royce and Bentley are assembled in England (separate from the rest of BMW and Volkswagen Group's production plants), and thus are regarded as being more "exclusive". Furthermore, the Maybach's pedigree was virtually unknown outside Germany, unlike its British rivals which have long enjoyed renown worldwide; indeed the 2006 Rolls-Royce Phantom's interior evokes memories of a 1930s car, while the Maybach 57S's inside makes no reference to its brand's history.
In October 2013, Top Gear magazine placed the Maybach 57 and 62 on its list of "The 13 worst cars of the last 20 years", commenting that "Mercedes-Benz decided to reactivate a brand that nobody under the age of 90 outside Stuttgart remembered, slathering an ersatz reject Hyundai luxury body over an ageing S-Class platform and hoping that various oligarchs, rap stars and Paris Hilton wouldn't notice that it was actually an elaborate con. They didn't. But we did. The 57S version finally gave the hapless guy up front something to do other than stirring up revolutionary resentment towards his boss, but by the time the Landaulet appeared, the game was up, and Mercedes iced the brand in favour of six different versions of the new S-Class. Smart move. Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, is on course for a record year in 2013."