A mercedes so good it's called a "Maybach". (WIP).

Last August in Stuttgart, Professor Jurgen Hubbert, Board Member of DaimlerChrysler AG, with responsibility for the Mercedes-Benz Passenger Car and smart division, announced, "We're using the name Maybach to emphasize the unique character of our future premium-quality product and to carry on the tradition of a legendary brand, whose exciting cars were the ultimate in design and technical perfection in the years between 1921 and 1940. We are pursuing these very same goals in the development of the new Maybach. Based on state-of-the-art Mercedes technology, the vehicles will set new standards in the world of premium cars, thus paying due honor to the great name of Maybach".

About the name: it was the surname of Wilhelm Maybach, who, along with Gottlieb Daimler, in 1900, developed the first Mercedes with its front-mounted aluminum engine, twin camshafts and advanced-design honeycomb radiator. He left the company in 1907 to work on engines for the Graf Zeppelin airships. in 1921, his son Karl started building cars, including the twelve-cylinder Maybach Zeppelin 05 8, which is said to have been the biggest German luxury car of the 1930s.

Fast-forward to last month: On July 2, 2002, when the Gueen Elizabeth 2 steamed into New York's harbor, there was a Maybach 62 on its deck, carried from Sindelfingen in a special glass container. The U.S. is anticipated to be the biggest market for the Maybach.

Sindelfingen is the site of the largest DaimlerChrysler production plant in the world. It employs more than 32,000 and covers approximately two million square meters. The production rate at the plant-of the C-Class, E-Class, E-Class, 5-Class, and CL-Class-- is on the order of 2,100 vehicles per day, or 500,000 per year.

But there is a new 21,000-[m.sup.2] section of the plant, the "Maybach Manufaktur" area, where a staff of 330 people is tasked with producing an average of five vehicles per day, or 1,500 per year. A Maybach-in-becoming takes about four weeks. The production operation combines craftsmanship with technology, manual building with automation. For example, in the body shop, side panels, doors, hood, and roof are manually welded, as are the front section, floor assembly, and rear. However, there is laser welding used to join the aluminum door inner and outer. There is a programmable hemming system used on the door, front wings, hood, and roof. A robot is used to fit more than 600 bolts to the Maybach body shell (for subsequent use in attaching cables and hoses].

A special paint shop was built for the Maybach. Painting is done by hand. There are 17 colors to choose from, and as there is a two-tone finish, this means that there are more than 100 different paint combinations. A newly developed clear coat has been developed for the Maybach.

In the trim and final area, there are 21 build stations, three completion stations, two stations for special features, and two stations for the installation of other variants (not only can a vehicle be loaded up with options to meet particular requirements, but there are "Personal Liaison Managers" assigned to small groups of Maybach owners who are on call 24/7]. Each station is staffed by from two to four people. In place of conveyors, there are skids that are manually moved throughout the facility.

The Maybach 62 is powered by a V-12, 550-hp engine that's built in a special section of the DaimlerChrysler Berlin plant. The vehicle is massive: it is 6.17 meters long and has a 3.83-m wheelbase. Rear passengers can recline their individual seats (with automatically extending leg and foot supports] to watch TV or DVDs on two color monitors. The pricing for the Maybach 62 is on the order of 360,000 euros. Of course, if you need to ask...