History: Project DIAMANT, the MAYBACH

An interesting topic. Some sort of connections between the MAYBACH W 240, produced from 2002 to 2012, and the W 140 we know well have become known. So, why did the MAYBACH appear, and why it is W (140+100) ? The key designers will tell us the early story behind the project.

Super-Mercedes

In August 1993, Bruno Sacco invited French designer Olivier Boulay and his family to attend the Concours D’Elegance in Pebble Beach, California. He had the opportunity to officially announce the opening of the new Advanced Design Center of Japan and introduce Boulay as the center’s general manager. Boulay had a good personal relationship with design director Sacco, it was Sacco who pull him back. He returned to Daimler, but stayed in Japan and preparing the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of Japan in Tokyo.

At this event, Boulay was moved by the beauty of the classics at Pebble Beach. Their shapes and bold sculptures made him curious about Daimler’s current styling capabilities. “I asked Bruno Sacco at the time, why do cars look the same even though there are so many technologies now? Is it time to build a super luxury Mercedes-Benz again? Bruno Sacco gave a negative answer, “The days of vehicle in such class are over.” What Sacco implies is that Werner Niefer, the staunchest leader who supports 140, is about to step down soon. No one on the board even likes 140 anymore, let alone some of the more exaggerated products.

But one year later, Sacco asked the design department to start the project of a super Mercedes, a competition held between Advanced Design Center of Japan and North America in Irvine California led by Gerard Steinle at the time. In Tokyo, the project is named “DIAMANT” , using the new 220 S-Class platform to develop a new presentation. Both studios in Japan and California were assigned to develop proposals for the exterior and the interior. Yes, the project had nothing to do with 140 initially.

A vote is required to get a new model started, so what power on the board approved this “pilot project”? According to inquiries from all those involved in the design project, they were unaware of the rumors of Daimler acquiring Rolls-Royce, and the media downplayed the incident as “Mercedes withdrew from the competition very early.” The more credible fact is that Rolls-Royce sought technical support from Mercedes in the early 1990s, which includes powertrain and electrical systemsand, the project was led by Dr. Dieter Zetche, later Daimler CEO. In the end, all progress remains on paper. He discontinued the MAYBACH in 2012 and was considered a long-time waver on the brand.

While working on the project, the designers felt that the “tempo” of Stuttgart was slowing down. Mercedes-Benz is one of those brands where it takes 8-10 years to develop a car, which is longer than the tenure of the board members. When new board members come on board, projects under development are already frozen, and if they don’t succeed commercially, they tend to be blamed on the current principals rather than their retiring predecessors. Prof. Jürgen Hubbert joined the Board in 1989, he signed the release of the 140. At that time, the 140 had entered the final stage of development, but he took the responsibility for the impact the 140 received.

“If we had continued to produce product like this (140), we would have been slipped into the Rolls-Royce’s corner,” said head of passenger cars Prof. Hubbert. The recession in the early 1990s put Rolls-Royce’s business in trouble. Prof. Hubbert determined that the new S-Class must be more economical and environment friendly than the 140, but he also regretted the demise of the technical cooperation with Rolls-Royce. Since Rolls-Royce is actually the V12 S-class’ main competitor, when Rolls-Royce becomes Mercedes’ market presence indirectly, then great. But if Rolls-Royce turns to BMW, competitive pressure will increase. To nip it in the bud, plans to continue competing with Rolls-Royce should be launched, Hubbert is positive of the project.

Oriental charm enlarged

Everything became more suitable for discussion after the new leadership was established and Jürgen Schrempp was appointed as the new CEO in May 1995. In August 1995, news appeared in the newspapers that Mercedes would revive Maybach.Schrempp’s well-known ambitions were not just that of a car company boss, but that of a politician. He also became a supporter of DIAMANT after A-Class and Smart gave rivals plenty of opportunities to laugh at. During the Detroit Auto Show in January 1996, key design staff from Stuttgart, Tokyo and California were summoned to a hotel near the show to report to the board of directors. Participating in the presentation are Gerard Steinle, Benjamen Dimson from California, Olivier Boulay and Bengt Björkbom from Tokyo. Prof. Hubbert and his assistant, Dr. Zetsche, Dr. Schmidt (Head of Marketing), Bruno Sacco, Peter Pfeiffer, Harald Leschke listened to the report.

In the last days of the 1980s, a plethora of S-Class competitors appeared overnight in the East, coming from almost every Japanese manufacturer. Although the Japanese’s achievements in entering the luxury market are impressive, fortunately, the S-Class’s position in Japan is irreplaceable. The new 140 has been a huge success, and Japan is becoming the second largest market for the S-Class with their booming economy. Mercedes began preparations for the Advanced Design Center in Tokyo in 1992. This is the second oversea Advanced Design Center after Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of North America in 1990, led by Harald Leschke.

It was the 140’s sales performance in the Asia market that impressed the Board, and they began to explore the necessity of continuing a model with higher positioning than the next-generation S-Class. The Japanese team brought three 1/4 models. Boulay believes that Japanese car makers were very active regarding luxury segment, while super luxury brands such as Rolls Royce, Bentley were on a kind of “sleeping mode”, their products are losing their labels due to their aging. It’s time to build super luxury sedan. He got a lot of inspiration in Japan and came up with some elements that were truly Japanese exotic but had not yet been implemented by Japanese manufacturers. However, the dimensions of these plans were considered by the board to be too small, even for a sleeping Rolls-Royce.

Gerard Steinle and Benjamin Dimson from California present the bold and convincing scheme of designer Jason Hill. First, they didn’t bother using the 220 platform, they found the new S-Class was too small for such a car, so used the 140 as the base, which would also help reduce development investment. What they bring is a super luxury car with true American icon. “Our proposal had a formal elegance and definite American imprint on its proportions and stance. ” Dimson is right, their model is more impressive in terms of size and luxury performance, and the board management is more inclined to choose this one. However the person who pushed the project to the board of directors is Bruno Sacco, who had a particularly personal feeling about it, and Boulay inspired him. From the beginning, DIAMANT has been a designer-driven project. Sacco did not reject the designs from Tokyo, but that they would need to be reworked in terms of size.

This presentation convinced the board more and more that such a car was desirable and feasible. But it needs more information, more research into what exactly this very specific group of customers wants from a car beyond the S-Class. Sacco has a strong interest in both designs, but Boulay’s proposal certainly smaller than the Rolls-Royce. The discussion then turned to what platform this car should be based on. Only one offers the right dimensions and proportions: the 140. After consensus was reached, it was decided to continue the study by building 2 full-size models at coachbuilder STOLA s.p.a. in Turin, Italy.

Made in Italy

At the end of October 1996, Harald Leschke and Jurgen Weissinger, senior directors from the design and development department, held an informal gathering with representatives of STOLA s.p.a. in the bar of the Ramada Hotel in Sindelfingen. The reason for this preliminary meeting is that the two managers want to find out directly from the Stola family whether they have the internal ability and desire to handle Mercedes’ super strategic project. STOLA’s cooperation with Daimler began in 1994. Daimler designed the FCC for the Chinese government. It was an imminent exhibition, and STOLA converted the 1/1 model into a drivable prensentation vehicle. While Daimler is capable of building any kind of prototype, projects involving extensive body work are always given to STOLA. The subtle thing is that Bruno Sacco is also Italian.

After flying back after the demonstration in Detroit, both teams began developing new 1/4 scale model based on the 140 platform and lengthening the wheelbase. They managed to finish drawing the new model in two weeks and sent it to STOLA immediately, both designs are deeply rivised. There, Japanese and American teams worked together to create full-scale models. Meanwhile, both California and Japanese studios developed interior design plans. Boulay’s deputy Anthony Lo and Steinle’s deputy Benjamin Dimson were responsible for the new styling scheme.

The presentation was given to board members at STOLA in February 1997, only three months after than the cooperation started. After the review, Bruno Sacco took board members to a separate conference room and made his comments known. An hour later, the Japanese team won the competition and construction of the prototype could begin immediately. The goal was to display a prototype at the Tokyo Motor Show in December 1997, this meant that the team only had less than 9 months to develop full functional vehicle.

The new DIAMANT is defined as a huge car: 5.77 meters long, 1.95 meters wide, 1.55 meters high, and the wheelbase has increased by 40 centimeters compared to the 140, which will dwarf the next generation of Rolls-Royce models. STOLA obtained the regular 140 body from Sindelfingen plant and based on it made the DIAMANT covering panels according to the 1/1 model. DIAMANT is longer and wider than the 140, so the engine compartment and passenger compartment have been lengthened respectively, and the increase in width is achieved through brand-new external panels. STOLA has already gained experience in modifying the 140: in 1996 they made the Vision F200 Immagination based on the C 140 and showed it at the Paris Motor Show in October. It looked like it was based on the new 220 platform, but was actually larger.

Daimler sent a complete technical support team to STOLA, who coordinated the power and electrical systems. At the same time, there are also existing V12 140s participating in the donation work. The show car retains the complete power system of the 140, including the 120.982 engine.

Became MAYBACH

The design of the interior is proceeding intensively in parallel with the construction of the model. A heated discussion took place in May 1997. The American team thought that a partition wall could be added to the interior of the car. The engineering department quickly came up with a complex partition wall concept that could be squeezed in without lengthening the wheelbase. The car, since the 140 has been stretched by 40 cm. The Japanese group opposed the concept. Prof. Hubbert rejected this proposal, which would only add more time to the budget. After all, it’s still questionary that if the car could delivered to Tokyo in time.

Meanwhile, the see-through full-size model, painted in dark red and black, like the Japanese Emperor’s Mercedes-Benz in the 30’s, was presented to the Daimler AG Boss, Jürgen Schrempp in Sindelfingen.  Schrempp was very seduced by the car and gave his full support for the project. However, in July 1997, there were some serious worries among the Board members about the project development, its timing and if they could meet the dead line, the 32nd Tokyo Motor Show. This explains why there was absolutely no pre-information released to the press. All the Board members came to STOLA to evaluate the situation, features that would take place in it. This is also the time where the marketing department decided to name this show car Mercedes-Benz MAYBACH. 

The MAYBACH was ultimately decided to be painted red and black, just like the model Schrempp received. It’s the most luxurious prototype the company STOLA has ever built, with its prominent exterior finish made from hand-polished aluminum, while other components are milled Plexiglas and backlit with LED lights. The interior was beautiful, with ultra-relaxing, comfortable seats, key components made from solid cherry wood, and a truly innovative infotainment system installed for the time. Renowned silverware manufacturer Sabatini collaborated to create all the silverware for the interior facilities.

After more than eight months of build, no more auto journalist could identify this giant car’s connection to the existing 140. Board members met the new MAYBACH, a somewhat unfamiliar name, for the first time at the same time as the press in Tokyo. Mr. Schrempp, Prof. Hubbert, Dr. Zetsche and Mrs. Schmidt Maybach, grand-daughter of Wilhelm Maybach attended the exhibition and they were satisfied with the car. During the show, Ferdinand Piech, Head of the VW car group also checked the MAYBACH. He declined the invitation to seat inside but, however, he asked how many cylinders this car had. After hearing “of course twelve” from Boulay, he answered “not enough!”.

Later the MAYBACH was presented at the Detroit and Geneva Motor Shows in 1998, the MAYBACH was confirmed as a project with commercial prospects, design discussions for mass production were officially started under the leadership of Peter Pfeiffer and Harald Leschke, and the development process was initiated by the engineering department headed by Prof Hermann Gaus.The optimized mass-produced model lost much of its exotic appeal from Japan, and Japan’s economic stagnation made it no longer important to MAYBACH, and the Advanced Design Center in Tokyo was subsequently closed.

Let’s review the fate of DIAMANT. It started with Olivier Boulay’s Super Mercedes proposal to Bruno Sacco, which Sacco became obsessed with and reported to the board of directors. The failure of the cooperation between Rolls-Royce and Mercedes made Prof. Hubbert fall in love with this proposal and received the support of the newly appointed tycoon CEO Jürgen Schrempp. The success of 140 in Japan gave the Tokyo design team more say. Their oriental design combined with the size of the American team finally won. The board of directors decided to build a propaganda vehicle based on the 140 and named it MAYBACH. Yes, MAYBACH was born out of a series of coincidences, but which car isn’t? This website writes this article around 140, because we can absolutely confirm that without 140 and its reception, there is no MAYBACH’s renaissance.

All history are based on limited information, please email me if you have doubts about the veracity of this article. If you want to quote the content of this article, please contact me in advance, please do not use my text for any commercial purposes.