During the Detroit Auto Show, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche stated that a Mercedes-Maybach SUV will “most likely” be greenlit in the near future. Though apparently they’re not interested in making smaller SUVs.
Speaking with Motoring during last week’s AMG C 63 launch in Portugal, Zetsche added that a Maybach SUV would “not be a stand-alone product. It would not be like Rolls-Royce – which I don’t know to which extent leans on any BMW portfolio elements”.
He later said that “If we pursued that (luxury SUV) it would be related to our existing or next-generation portfolio and therefor would be linked to that cycle which we have on that side.”
Though this isn’t news to us, we’re very keen on watching the luxury SUV segment grow from all directions. Not just from Mercedes but also from other luxury car makers such as Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Maserati. By the way, if you’ve missed the GLS getting the Maybach treatment, you can still check it out here.
One aspect we found equally interesting during this interview, was Zetsche saying that “There is no place for an SUV there (A & B Segment)” when talking about Audi’s upcoming Q1 and BMW possibly building a sub-X1 model.
Even though nowadays it’s very hard for rivaling companies not to compete on absolutely all levels (and segments), it’s not unprecedented as between the three of them, Mercedes, BMW and Audi still don’t rival each other in absolutely every way.
Zetsche argued that the “GLA is a part of our compact car family and going underneath that would mean to go into the A segment or B segment and we are doing that with Smart.” – which does make a lot of sense. Until you know, it doesn’t.
These types of decisions change all the time, especially if the Q1 proves to be a massive success. But until then, Mercedes won’t move on that front. Good thing we’ve got the Maybach SUV to look forward to.
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