Daimler is to scrap the Maybach, its range of luxury cars once favoured by the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and the boxing champion Max Schmeling, and whose heritage stretches back almost a century.
The German group announced yesterday it was to target the luxury market with its Mercedes-Benz brand "and no longer with the Maybach".
The cars, which were on the market at €222,274 ($393,158) each, consistently failed to hit sales targets of 1000 a year. It sold just 200 in 2010.
Daimler resurrected the brand after 60 years to compete with Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Yet, the company said yesterday that there would be "no successor" to the latest Maybach model when the last one rolls off the production line in 2013.