Maybach Range Discontinued For 2013

The passing of the ultra-prestige Maybach brand is now as close to official as we are likely to get.

While an announcement has not been made, a new Daimler price-list released this week lists all five Maybach models as "discontinued". 

The release follows reports last year that the brand would soon be shuttered, after last-ditch partnership talks with Aston Martin stalled.

In November, German paper Fankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche had confirmed that the need for an ultra-luxury marque had passed, pointing to the upcoming S-Class as the ideal replacement.

"It would not make sense to develop a successor model”, the paper quoted Zetsche in an interview. "The coming S-Class is in such a way a superior vehicle that it can replace the Maybach."

Customers drawn to the exclusivity of the Maybach brand must now 'make do' with the top-shelf Mercedes-Benz S-Class, or consider a move to Maybach rivals Rolls-Royce or Bentley. 

An exodus to either brand would hardly see sales skyrocket, however: Just 157 Maybach cars were sold in 2010, compared to a record 2711 sales for Rolls-Royce.