2002 Maybach 62

Comfort with style

The design of the new Maybach is the embodiment of a core claim by this luxury automobile brand: sophistication.

The harmonious interplay of shape, colour and materials lends the Maybach 62 high-end luxury motor cars a design quality which matches that of their engineering, perfectionism and appointments. Both the overall lines and the design details characterise the serene nature of these cars, accentuate their uniqueness and give them an unmistakable identity. The Maybach is a modern work of art on wheels. It is the result of expertise and creativity, technology and aesthetics; it is a car for people with the highest expectations with respect to perfection of form, style and lifestyle.

These high-end saloons are majestic and highly elegant – with harmonious proportions and classic lines. A fine balance between classic and avant-garde features already distinguishes the new Maybach from everything conventional at a glance, and constitutes its special stylistic appeal. The designers have intentionally combined gentle, sweeping lines with elegantly modelled contours to give the bodywork a flowing appearance. The proportions – a relatively long front end and a short rear end – reinforce this impression in conjunction with the striking wedge-shape of the front, giving the cars muscular dynamism.

Timelessness is another outstanding characteristic of the Maybach’s design. Its lines are intended to retain their validity for a long time to come – an ideal which applies to both the exterior and interior design. In every sense of the word this makes the new Maybach an automobile for life.

Side aspect: harmonious proportions, elegant contours

Two chrome strips extending along the entire body at different heights lend a formal structure to the side aspect, divide the plane surfaces and characterise the majestic appearance of the stretched silhouette as additional stylistic features. A third chrome section extending from the A-pillar, along the roof edge and into the tail end provides a visual frame for the large side windows.

The design of the waistline likewise accentuates the powerful and at the same time dignified appearance of the Maybach. The waistlines act as broad "shoulders" in carrying the side windows, roof pillars and roof, extend from the front to the rear end and thereby lend strength to the appearance of the body. The bonnet and boot lid are expressively delineated from the wings, their convex form issuing harmoniously from the A and C-pillars as further, distinctive stylistic elements of the high-end luxury motor car.

If a Maybach customer decides in favour of two-tone bodywork, the central panels of the doors and wings delineated by the chrome strips are painted in a second colour. A total of 17 exterior paint colours are available - 16 of them metallic finishes – and can be combined in a two-tone finish. The Maybach therefore offers over a hundred possibilities for individual body design.

Interior: a lounge on wheels

The interior also imparts a clear message: sheer luxury – unobtrusive yet unmistakable; stylish elegance and the utmost perfection in every detail.

The first impression of the interior is of exceptional spaciousness. The rear seat passengers, particularly, are intended to feel they are at the centre of things, and can all enjoy the comfort of a lounge on wheels. The large rear doors are the portals to this dignified world; they open to an angle of 85 degrees, so even just entering the car becomes an experience.

Two comfortable individual seats invite one to sit down, and the occupants immediately notice one of the very special features of the Maybach interior: Grand nappa – one of the finest types of leather available, and finished with an unprecedented standard of care. In short, a product unequalled in its tangible quality. Used for the first time, and exclusively in the new Maybach automobiles, this Grand nappa leather upholstery shows slight folds as it extends across the seats, making their surfaces unusually soft and comfortable.

The upper section of the dashboard, the armrests on the centre and rear consoles and the flaps in the side doors are likewise upholstered in nappa leather. Specialist suppliers cut a total of approx. 210 leather sections to size for every Maybach and sew them together into 62 larger units – all by hand of course. These include another new feature in regular automobile production, namely nubuk leather, which has a very fine nap as a result of special processing. The lower section of the dashboard and the interior door panels of the Maybach are lined with this soft material, which creates a subtle and exquisite contrast to the nappa leather.

Customers are able to decide the interior colour scheme of their Maybach in personal discussion with designers. There is a choice of six tasteful upholstery colours.

Fine wood: more than 100 hand-crafted items of decorative trim

In combination with another exquisite natural material – fine wood - Grand nappa, nappa and nubuk leather form a unique blend which likewise exudes a high-class lounge atmosphere and gives new meaning to the term exclusive.

Stylish wood trim sections which tastefully embellish most of the surfaces in the doors and centre consoles attract the attention, and a careful count reveals that the Maybach has more than 100 of these – all carefully hand-crafted and individually selected by experienced specialists to ensure a matching grain and colour shade. Three fine wood veneers are available to the discerning Maybach clientele:

• Cherry, a light-coloured wood with a generous, arched grain which is contrasted with the impact-resistant, jet-black, high-gloss lacquer known as piano lacquer;

• Amboyna, a brown exotic wood with a fine, circular grain;

• Burr walnut, a reddish-brown, finely grained veneer from the root of the Californian walnut tree.

The three sections of lamellar trim – a new feature in automobile design – are a particular masterpiece of the wood craftsman’s art. With a total length of 563 centimetres, a width of 3.9 centimetres and a height of 3.3 centimetres this extends across the dashboard and the door panels in a gentle, elegant curve. This exquisite lamination of exotic wood is made up of seven individual lengths, around 20 work stages are required to join different, millimetre-thick veneers with equally fine aluminium inlays by hand – with a final layer of cherry, amboyna or burr walnut at the top. The 3.3-centimetre thick, laminated trim section consists of 63 different layers in all. Stylish detail that embodies perfection.

Leather and fine wood are without doubt the predominant materials which contribute to the dignified interior atmosphere of the Maybach. Soft Alcantara and high-quality velour complement this ensemble of materials: Alcantara is used to give the roof pillar linings, the sun visors and roof lining a surface which is pleasant to the touch, for example, while velour with a deep nap is used for the floor carpeting.

Interior lighting: light as a design feature

Apart from fine leather and wood the designers have also used light as a design feature in the interior of the Maybach. In addition to numerous lights which switch on automatically when the doors are opened, or reading lights which come on at the touch of a button, they have developed a feature known as ambient lighting. This creates a pleasant, diffused lighting which remains switched on even when on the move and provides a special atmosphere in the interior.

This ambient lighting feature includes two light panels in the front overhead control panel, four lights in the roof section between the two B-pillars, three upward floodlights on the inside of each B and C-pillar, a downward LED in the rear-view mirror, lighting strips in the roof lining between the B and C-pillars and lighting in the front and rear footwells.

But without doubt the main attraction of this sophisticated lighting concept is the sliding liner for the optionally available panoramic roof in the Maybach 62. This is lined with an electro-luminescent membrane (EL membrane) which is switched on at the touch of a button when closed and emits a pleasant, diffused light over its entire surface. A potentiometer in the rear centre console enables rear passengers in the Maybach 62 to regulate the illumination of the EL membrane and the ambient lighting.

Statements

A world apart