Early Life and Career Beginnings (1846 To 1869) : Wilhelm Maybach
Early Life and Career Beginnings (1846 To 1869) : Wilhelm Maybach
Early Life and Career Beginnings (1846 To 1869) : Wilhelm Maybach
December 1929) was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he
was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of Designers".
From the late 19th century Wilhelm Maybach, together with Gottlieb Daimler, developed light,
high-speed internal combustion engines suitable for land, water, and air use. These were fitted to
the world's first motorcycle, motorboat, and after Daimler's death, a new automobile introduced in
late 1902, the Mercedes model, built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek.
Maybach rose to become technical director of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) but did
not get along with its chairmen. As a result, Maybach left DMG in 1907 to found Maybach-
Motorenbau GmbH together with his son Karl in 1909; they manufactured Zeppelin engines. After
the signing of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 the company started producing large luxury vehicles,
branded as "Maybach". The company joined the German war effort in 1940, ceasing automotive
production in favour of tank engines, including those for the Tiger I and Tiger II heavy tanks.
Revived after the war Maybach Motorenbau which remained a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau
Zeppelin was making diesel engines. During the 1960s Maybach came under the control of
Daimler-Benz and was renamed MTU Friedrichshafen.
In 2002 the Maybach brand name was revived for a luxury make but it was not successful. On 25
November 2011 Daimler-Benz announced they would cease producing automobiles under
the Maybach brand name in 2013.[1] In 2014, Daimler announced production of an ultra-luxury
edition of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class under the new Mercedes-Maybach brand.[2]