Mercedes luxury brand Maybach in India: Luxury, history and a touch of extravagance

Bass booms from the speakers, violin sounds blend with electronic beats. Tradition and modernity. 25 models dressed in white strut down a white catwalk, showcasing the latest chic from the hottest Indian designer Gaurav Gupta. The audience sips their glasses, cranes their necks, and films and photographs with their smartphones. The three black cars in the background of the stage become almost inconspicuous.

The DJ cranks the sound up to the limit until, after a good two hours, the new Maybach SL Monogram Series rolls onto the stage. Finally. The audience goes wild. What a show. For the first time, Maybach is presenting a new model in India. There's a lot of calculation behind this.

India is one of the emerging markets for luxury cars. Of the approximately 4.3 million vehicles sold annually, more than half (2.4 million) are small, affordable cars from Maruti Suzuki. However, of the approximately 51,600 luxury cars sold annually, 40 percent still bear a star on the hood. Growth forecasts are at three percent per year.

India is among the top ten Maybach markets. The country is expected to join the top five after China, the USA, and South Korea in the future. In 2024, Maybach sold more than 500 vehicles in India, an increase of 145 percent compared to 2023. Last year, Maybach opened a new flagship store in Hyderabad, a city of eight million.

With calculation: Western manufacturers sell vehicles in the luxury segment for around 1.1 billion euros, and this figure is expected to exceed 1.5 billion euros by 2027. The Indian market will therefore be a key sales driver in the future.

It's therefore only fitting that Maybach presented its vehicles and the brand to 200 customers and local journalists on two evenings, renting a hotel on a small island in the middle of Udaisagar Lake near Udaipur for the occasion. "We realized that three models are a bit too few for India and that there is a much greater need and demand," says Santosh Iyer, Head of Mercedes-Benz India. This is why the Roadster is now being introduced.

A Maybach EQS SUV costs 2.3 crore, or around 240,000 euros, while the new Maybach SL costs 4 crore, or around 415,000 euros. By comparison, a new Maruti Suzuki Dzire costs the equivalent of 7,700 euros, while India's best-selling Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R costs around 6,000 euros.

In addition to the three current Maybach models – the S-Class, GLS, and the electric SUV EQS – a rare 1936 Maybach SW38 also stands in the hotel's extensive park. Only three examples of this remain in India. The first owner was the Maharaja Bhupinder of Patiala. Anubhav Nath, the son of the current owner and grandson of the buyer, is accompanying the almost 90-year-old car this evening as it leaves New Delhi for the first time. A special honor for the son. "Maybach is more than a car brand, the SW38 is more than a car – for me, it's pure history and passion," says Nath.

And it's celebrated extensively. Before the fashion show, Daniel Lescow, Head of Mercedes-Maybach, and Maybach's great-grandson, Ulrich Schmid-Maybach, welcome the guests. They explain the brand's history and the importance of the Indian market. Schmid-Maybach acts as a representative of the family, thus bringing to the event what is particularly important to Indian buyers: family and tradition.

In the last century, Maybach stood for technically sophisticated vehicles with luxurious bodywork. Starting in 1909, Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl initially developed diesel and gas engines for Zeppelin airships. From 1918 onward, they concentrated on engines for locomotives and automobiles. The first experimental car, the W1, was built in 1919, and the first production car, the W3, was built in 1921. The Maybach Zeppelin DS, the largest German sedan with a twelve-cylinder engine and up to eight liters of displacement, was launched in 1930.

During the war, Maybach ceased production of luxury automobiles. After the war, Maybach built engines for rail vehicles and ships. In 1960, Daimler-Benz acquired Maybach and renamed the company MTU Friedrichshafen. Since 2014, Mercedes-Benz has given its luxury division the name Mercedes-Maybach. Instead of producing its own models, the Stuttgart-based company has since based its Maybach models on existing vehicles, along with the latest Mercedes technology and particularly luxurious equipment with extensive customization options.

As early as the 1930s, the small-series manufacturer exported its vehicles to India, including to the Maharajas of Patiala, Kolhapur, and Kotha. A Maybach technician from Germany took care of the customers' vehicles on site from the late 1930s onwards.

For 16 years, Mercedes-Benz has been assembling vehicles such as the E-Class, the GLE, the EQS 580, and, since 2015, the Maybach S580 at a plant in Pune. They don't do this from scratch, but as CKD (completely knocked down). Simply put, the car is delivered in individual parts and assembled as a kit at its destination. This saves import duties and taxes. The Maybach S-Class is built in Stuttgart, the SUV variants GLS and EQS in the USA, and the SL will be built in Bremen.

Adding another model to the range makes perfect sense, as the market for luxury vehicles in India is huge. Perhaps this is because Indian customers have a keen sense for luxury, quality, and craftsmanship. But perhaps it's also because there are around 300 billionaires among India's estimated 1.44 billion population. The number of billionaires in India has tripled in the last ten years.

Indian car enthusiasts and collectors of luxury vehicles place particular emphasis on history, luxury, quality, and design. When it comes to colors, Indian customers primarily prefer warm and muted tones, as well as white and black. Fine materials such as special woods, gold, and silver are also in demand. Driving characteristics and top speed, however, are less important in model selection—this is hardly surprising given the quality of the roads and the high traffic volume.

Maybach's Indian customers are often businesspeople, athletes, and celebrities, and are not only wealthy but also young : the average age of Indian customers is 38. In addition to the bare metal, they are interested in fashion, art, and other lifestyle topics.

However, the new model has one special feature for India. While owners of previous Maybach models usually have a chauffeur, they drive the two-seater SL themselves. His customers are willing to do this, says Santosh Iyer. In his view, Maybach customers value exclusivity and customization. 75 percent of all Maybach vehicles are customized ex works at the customer's request.

At three booths in Udaipur, customers can immerse themselves in the world of Maybach, learn about the manufacturer's craftsmanship, and try on travel bags, leather goods, clothing, sunglasses, and jackets—and thus gain their first contact with the traditional brand.

Even if the Maybach representatives are satisfied with the sales results for 2024, with total sales of 21,000 Maybach automobiles worldwide in 2024, the more than 500 vehicles sold in India seem meager.

After the show, the party isn't over yet. The music plays again, this time a little quieter. Because now the Maybach salespeople's order books are open, and they have an open ear for their customers. Around 50 orders are received at this event. Luxury works worldwide, after all.

The trip to the event was sponsored by Mercedes.