With the right mentorship our forefathers disrupted mobility and bequeathed us a timeless legacy. In preserving this continuüm, we want to pass on this legacy to you and celebrate the lives and inventions of Wilhelm & Karl Maybach.
2011 – Venice, Italy. Vahakn Arslanian and mentor Julian Schnabel at the Venice Biennale with their collaboration, „The Ones You Didn’t Write — The Maybach Car.“
In 2005, after the new Maybach car had been making waves in certain circles, I reflected on ways to give back. Mentoring was a natural fit given my great-grandfather Wilhelm Maybach’s rise from the orphanage to iconic designer, an evolution that correlated directly with the support and assistance he received from his mentors.
It turns out that this meaningful message resonates with many people and especially with Maybach enthusiasts. I learned that some followers have had a similar story while others reflect on the privilege and subsequent responsibility that success has brought — in addition to being able to afford fabulous things. Others have shared with me that they wish they had had a mentor in life as it would have made a difference on so many levels.
So, as we scratch the shiny surface of our beautiful things, we find the basic rudiments hidden beneath the veneer of great accomplishment, and with that, the provenance we didn’t know was there. Here then we get to explore both — the rich heritage of the 100+ year Maybach story as well as the paradox that led to its current iconic status.
I invite you to join me on this journey of discovery.
Sincerely Yours,
Ulrich Schmid-Maybach,
Founder and President
Three values distinguish Maybach.
- Quality: Meticulous design, uncompromising production, and reliability.
- Innovation: as seen in the first motorized cycle, the first modern carburetor and the first Mercedes — technically the first modern car.
- Finally, there is the colored thread of mentoring that runs though the Maybach story with Wilhelm Maybach’s beginnings in the orphanage, Karl Maybach’s dual-track talent development program that combined theory and practice, and the Maybach Foundation programs that advance mentoring today.