A fantastic Maybach 57, seen in Beijing in 2011 on a side road of the Fourth Ring Road. The long-wheelbase Maybach 62 limousine is not uncommon in China but the shorter 57 is quite rare. Whenever I see a Maybach from those days I am always surprised by how huge they actually are. Even the 57 is 5.7 meters long, 1.98meters wide and 1.5 meters tall.
The car that I met was painted in black over dark gray. At first I thought the sporty alloys where after-market but they were actually standard in China on the 2009 and 2010 model years. Power came from the mighty 6.0 twin-turbo motor, good for 640 hp and 1000 Nm. Price in 2009 started at 5.38 million yuan. The Maybach 62 started at more than double that; 12.98 million in the same year. That made the 57 look like a great deal!
In anyway, the Maybach name is still very popular. China is the largest market worldwide for the new common Benz-based Maybach line.