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After much speculation it seems that Daimler has finally thrown in the towel with its luxury brand Maybach.

An article published on the FT website today, confirms that Daimler is to axe Maybach and concentrate its efforts in the luxury car sector by developing more upmarket versions of the Mercedes S-Class.

Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an article published on its website on Friday, that the conclusion had been reached in regard to the luxury segment, “that the sales chances for the Mercedes brand were better than Maybach’s.”

In 2010, Maybach sold a measly 200 cars while Rolls-Royce shifted more than 10 times that amount and Bentley managed over 5,000 units!

So when other top end sportscars and limousines are enjoying healthy sales on a global level, particularly in China, the question surely must be: why has Maybach performed so poorly?

There may be a multitude of reasons but I can cite two very obvious ones which may also be the most important.

The first is a lack of commitment to the marque. You can also read this as a lack of investment but what it boils down to, is that Maybach’s model range consists of just 1, yes ONE, vehicle. Yes, there are long wheelbase and longer wheelbase variants but that’s it. Where are the emotive coupes and convertibles that help Rolls and Bentley achieve those stellar sales figures? Without them, Maybach is simply a one-trick pony, albeit an expensive one. The dramatic 700 horsepower Exelero coupe of 2005 showed that the thinking was there but it never got the green light for production and remained a one-off.

The second issue is the design of the Maybach limo. It never really looked particularly distinctive, but perhaps more crucially, it was simply too similar in style to its far cheaper (or less expensive) cousin, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Would millionaires really want to spend their hard-won fortunes on a larger, fancier Merc?

Despite a client list that included Madonna, Samuel L. Jackson and Jay-Z, it seems the answer was generally no.