The Maybach brand dates back as far as the late nineteenth century to a time when the automobile industry was just beginning and men of vision were uniting towards the common goal of creating horseless carriages that could cater for Kings and Queens. Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Damiler teamed up in the 1860s and were producing engines by the 1880s. By the early 1940s Maybach was producing mega-luxury cars powered by impressive V-12 engines. However the Maybach name all but disappeared after World War II until in 2003 Daimler-Chrysler figured the time was right to re-introduce it once again. Today there are two versions of mega-luxury car available - the Maybach Type 57 and Maybach Type 62 and, as you might expect, because these are mega-luxury cars, they attract mega-luxury prices. Therefore unless you have a minimum $300,000 handy, you really need to look at an alternative luxury model produced by another brand. That you don't see too many Maybachs does not mean they aren't selling. The company manufactures just 1,000 per annum, which makes them both scarce and an investment. Which, if you're paying over $300,000 for the privilege of owning a Maybach, it's nice to know that depreciation won't be excessive. Or at least in line with other mega-luxury cars such as Rolls Royce. With only 1,000 built per annum Maybach may struggle to gain global recognition as a manufacturer of a vehicle that competes head-on with Rolls Royce, especially as Rolls Royce manufacture many thousands more. However, other handcrafted manufacturers have succeeded to remain in business in this particular arena of the motor marketplace producing to a select elite. Whether Maybach wishes to expand productivity and thereby increase sales must be included somewhere on their agenda, but once again we will have to wait until Maybach or its backers, figure that the time is right to do so. Perhaps that might happen when a junior version of the Maybach Type 57 is produced, one that costs a lot less than $300,000. Until that happens the majority of the global population will simply have to wonder if they will ever even see a Maybach. Driving a Maybach What a Maybach is like to drive is possibly not the first question an owner asks themselves. People buy a Maybach because they require a vehicle that is both luxuriously appointed and in possession of a very distinctive road presence. Owners of either the Maybach Type 57 or Maybach Type 62 receive an abundance of both together with Maybach performance. Yes, these luxuriously appointed oars can do more than look like a mega-company's boardroom. They actually perform rather spectacularly too! For example the Maybach Type 57 accelerates from 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds! Wow, I hear you say, imagine being between by a boardroom at the traffic lights Grand Prix! Let's hope a few more of us get to enjoy an opportunity to sample a drive in a Maybach, even if it's just to discover how the other 0.000000010 of the global population live.