• The Detroit Bureau, Tuesday, November 29, 2011 9:52 AM

The long-struggling Maybach brand will soon be euthanized – though few will likely notice considering the German luxury maker’s continually weak performance.

Parent Daimler AG has finally given up on the marque, which was originally conceived as an all-new alternative to better-known Bentley and Rolls-Royce – future efforts focusing on a new, high-line version of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The Zeppelin model started at $375,000. Daimler officially launched the brand in late 2002.

“We came to the strong conclusion that the sales chances for the Mercedes brand are much stronger than those for Maybach,” Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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