Wednesday 26th June 2002

The first £320,000 6.2-metre-long Maybach 62 ever produced was enclosed in a glass case on the Queen Elizabeth II as the liner departed from Southampton, England en route to New York. The ship was greeted on its arrival in New York on 2 July by geysering fireboats. Lifted gingerly by a cargo helicopter, the box was set down on a nearby pier, from which the V12-powered car departed for a news conference on Wall Street. Daimler had invested more than a billion euros in reviving Maybach, a marque that began producing luxury cars during the interwar period. Sales of the new products, the 57 and long-wheelbase 62, never met expectations, however, averaging just 200 vehicles per year instead of the projected 1,000 units. Maybach ceased to be a brand in 2013.