SUVs->ke145 are the talk of the automotive world these days, with offerings ranging from massive people haulers like the Escalade->ke245 to jacked-up hatchbacks->ke304 that offer little more than a little extra ground clearance and all-wheel drive. Regardless of how irritating they are to some purists, these are what buyers want, and manufacturers can’t build them fast enough. Recent rumors have been circulating around Mercedes->ke187 possibly planning a Maybach-->ke52 SUV and a subcompact crossover to battle the Audi Q1.->ke2718 But while a new report claims that the Maybach rumor is true, it also claims that the subcompact rumor is false.
The report comes from the folks at Motoring.com.au, who had a conversation with Daimler executive, Dieter Zetsche. According to the report, Zetsche said that with Rolls Royce->ke74 and Bentley both rolling out their own SUVs, the time is absolutely right for Maybach to have one of its own. Unlike the Bentley->ke15 and Rolls people-haulers, however, the Maybach will be reliant on the product cycle of the Mercedes GLS, which it will be based on. The Bentley and Rolls SUVs are stand-alone models built separately from their respective parent companies’ product lines.
One SUV that appears to be totally out of the question is the rumored Mercedes-Benz Q1 fighter. According to Zetsche, that would require Mercedes to go into the A or B segment, which would step on the toes of Daimler-->ke3653owned Smart. In the same breath, he also dismissed any competitor to the pint-sized A1.
Continue reading to hear my take on what this means.
Why it matters
The Mercedes-Maybach SUV is no shocker really. With Bentley and Rolls-Royce willing to build stand-alone SUVs, Daimler would be crazy not to spruce up the GLS to compete with them. As for the Q1 competitor, I think Mercedes is in a holding pattern to see how BMW and Audi do. If they have loads of success building these hatchbacks-turned-crossovers, then you’d better be prepared to see Mercedes dive right in with them. There is no way that Daimler would just turn its nose up to a stack of cash if this segment takes off.