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Maybach Zeppelin launched
11 February 2009
Maybach has dipped into the history books to name its latest model the Maybach Zeppelin, the flagship of the German car-maker’s range in the 1920s.
The Zeppelin name maybe more famous as a huge hydrogen-filed airship, but it was also the name of the Maybach Zeppelin, the top-end super-luxury saloon developed by Karl Maybach in 1921.
It took its name from the airships, whose engines were designed by his father Wilhelm Maybach, an engineer who helped Gottlieb Daimler build the first Mercedes.
Powered back then by a twelve-cylinder lump, the new Maybach Zeppelin limited edition is also V12-powered, this time by a tweaked version of the Maybach’s 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12, with output boosted by 28bhp up to 631bhp and torque lifted to 737lbft.
There are new wheels, too, but the main development is an in-cabin air freshener, or perfume atomiser, considerably more up-market than a pongy feu orange hanging from the rear-view mirror.
This bespoke beauty is attached to the vents for the rear cabin air-con and distributes a mist of perfume controlled either by the chauffeur up front or the rear-seat occupants.
Costing an astonishing £3500, it even features two bespoke perfumes blended by perfume creator Givaudan.
The question remains, however: how many board directors or company owners in Britain will be comfortable boasting at the golf club that they own a Zeppelin?
Julian Rendell
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