Rumors on the internet allege that P. Diddy presented his son with a brand new Maybach for his sixteenth birthday. The keys were handed over during a taping of MTV’s “Sweet Sixteen” reality series.

I had to buy my first car. With my own money, and nobody filmed it for posterity. Since P. Diddy’s son will probably wad the car in the near future anyway, look for a one owner, slightly used Maybach with a salvage title to appear on eBay by the end of the year.

Let’s hope P. Diddy included some seat time at a Skip Barber school for his son as well. Maybe I’m just jealous, but I’m thinking a 6,000 pound car that scoots to 60 in five seconds may be a bit much for a new driver to handle.

Come live vicariously through us as we, the most prestigious automotive blog in the world, grace the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with our stately presences. We’re sure to be the star attractions – forget the live unveiling of several never-before-seen new cars, and the endless rows of priceless works of automotive art sprawled out on the golf course greens like so many unobtanium sandtraps. Surely Jay Leno and the other celebrities will probably manage to jostle themselves into the photos of our expert appraisals of the class frontrunners, but we won’t be too upset. We’ll take a break from being the life of the Concours every so often to update you, our faithful readers. So check back often, and follow us at http://twitter.com/ridelust and in our Pebble Beach live coverage to catch all of the latest updates.

Dead for more than 50 years, the legendary Maybach Zeppelin is making its official comeback this week as it debuts live at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. Underpinned by the present day Maybach 57 S and extended-wheelbase 62 S, the Maybach Zeppelin comes equipped with a 640-horsepower 6.0L V12 engine and a few “Zeppelin” engraved accoutrements designed to pay homage to the original Zeppelin of the 1930’s. Finished in Maybach’s traditional two-tone paint scheme, aside from the illuminated “Zeppelin” running boards and “Zeppelin” badging on the Double M hood ornament, the Maybach Zeppelin differs very little from current and previous generation Maybachs and still features an aesthetic design found only attractive by wealthy European businessmen and gangster rappers from Miami.

Full gallery and press release after the jump

PRESS RELEASE

The new Maybach Zeppelin

The reincarnation of an automotive legend

Stuttgart – The Maybach brand is bringing out the new Maybach

Zeppelin to spearhead its luxury saloon model range. The new model, which is receiving its premiere at the Geneva Motor Show, represents the absolute zenith in the high-end luxury saloon segment. This makes it a worthy successor to the legendary Maybach Zeppelin, which was revered worldwide as the ultimate in high-class automotive engineering in the 1930s. The hallmark features of the new Maybach flagship’s unique sense of style include a stunning paint finish, featuring a shoulderline in a contrasting colour, as well as the exquisite, meticulously crafted materials in the interior, whose long list of optional extras includes a world first – a highly sophisticated perfume atomiser. The new model’s performance even out-classes the rest of the Maybach range, making it the most powerful Maybach ever. In a nutshell: the Maybach Zeppelin epitomises stylish elegance and the art of vehicle manufacture at its most re-fined as no car has ever done before. The new Maybach Zeppelin is being built in a limited edition of just 100 worldwide.

Even today, the name “Zeppelin” has an incomparable ring to it in the realm of high-end luxury cars. As in bygone times, Maybach is once again building the Maybach Zeppelin for drivers who are seeking some-thing extra special, even in this most luxurious of automotive segments. Not only do the Maybach 57 Zeppelin and Maybach 62 Zeppelin stand out for their exquisite elegance, inventive ideas and phenomenal performance, only one hundred of these special model versions of the high-end luxury saloons will be made worldwide.

Even greater power for the Maybach Zeppelin
The Maybach 57 S and the long-wheelbase version, the 62 S, serve as the technical basis for the new range-topping model. Supreme performance is assured in both cases by the 6.0 litre V12 biturbo power unit under the bonnet, which now delivers 471 kW/640 hp (+ 28 hp) and a peak torque of 1000 Newton metres.

A two-tone exterior identifies the new Maybach flagship
Whatever angle it is viewed from, the new Maybach Zeppelin radiates character and the sort of style which appeals to all the senses. From the outside, the luxury brand’s new top-of-the-range model can be recognised by its two-tone special paint finish. The shoulderline is painted right through to the background of the headlamp assemblies in Rocky Mountains light brown, which forms a stylish and scintillating contrast to the Taiga black finish used for the rest of the vehicle body. Dark red tail light units and a fine vertical partition in the tailpipe add striking visual touches at the rear. Naturally, customers may also specify their Maybach Zeppelin in any other paint finish they wish.

The Maybach Zeppelin’s newly designed 20-inch wheels in a Chrome Shadow finish complete the picture. These were first painted with a black undercoat, before having a silver topcoat applied using an elaborate painting process that causes the tone to gradually increase in darkness from the outside in.

The streamlined exterior mirrors, which produce even less wind noise, are new to Maybach. They have a more angular design and are separated from the door frame by a slender arm, giving them a more expressive look. They also feature an enlarged mirror surface together with integral indicators in the shape of a horizontal “V” for even greater perceptual safety.

The curving “ZEPPELIN” lettering that appears below the distinctive double “M” emblem on the radiator grille and on the boot lid instantly gives away the elite status of the new Maybach Zeppelin.

Finest-quality leather and high-gloss piano lacquer trim
The new Maybach Zeppelin is a car for connoisseurs, as is immediately apparent from its interior. Here, the luxurious leather appointments in California beige leather form a delightful contrast with the exclusive leather in deep Stromboli black that gives added impact to the shoulderline on the inside too. At the same time, the lustrous deep black tone of the leather harmonises beautifully with the exquisite piano lacquer finish of the trim elements. The precisely crafted contrasting topstitching in the dashboard and on the doors reinforces the Maybach Zeppelin’s sense of dynamism. The unusual diamond quilting pattern on the seat cushions and backrests together with the black piping gives the opulently styled seats a character all of their own. The occupants’ feet rest on genuine lambskin carpeting.

The limited-edition special models bear a number of discreet identifying
markings in the interior too. The centre console in the front, the partition screen that is available as an option for the Maybach Zeppelin 62, plus the silver champagne flutes included as standard are all marked with the lettering “MAYBACH ZEPPELIN”, while the door sill panels as well as the key ring are engraved with the word “ZEPPELIN”.

World first – a system for a fine interior fragrance
Customers are also able to opt for an especially refined equipment de-tail that is exclusive to the Maybach Zeppelin – an imaginatively de-signed, extremely high-quality perfume atomiser, the only one of its kind in the world. It easily eclipses all previous efforts to produce some-thing similar, both in terms of its visual appeal and its operation. Its sophisticated technology and premium fragrances, which can be individually chosen, create a unique aromatic experience in the Maybach Zeppelin’s interior at the push of a button – stimulating the senses of the occupants not with an overpowering perfume but with a soft, delicate scent.

The system’s core component is an internally illuminated Plexiglass sphere on the rear centre console, into which Maybach Zeppelin owners can insert a vial of their preferred fragrance. A regulator pump then directs a gentle flow of air into the Plexiglass sphere, fanning the vial’s perfume molecules into the vehicle interior.

The ingenious control understands the human sense of smell
The perfume atomiser can be activated either from the driver’s seat or by means of a button in the rear centre console, with an additional thumbwheel in the rear for sensitive aroma control. The chosen fragrance gently wafts into the passenger compartment within ten to twelve seconds. On models with a partition screen, only the passengers in the rear are able to activate the atomiser.

The aroma experts took the human sense of smell into consideration when designing the control mechanism. As the nose adjusts to smells in such a way that it no longer perceives them after a short while, the perfume atomiser switches off after about ten minutes. Once the sys-tem has switched off, the fragrance – which does not seep into the interior’s materials or the occupants’ clothes – quickly evaporates. Reactivating the atomiser later allows the experience to be enjoyed all over again.

Artistic, hand-blown vials and specially developed fragrances
The system comes supplied with two select fragrances, which have been exclusively developed for the Maybach by a renowned perfumer from global specialist Givaudan: one light and refreshing, the other slightly heavier and woodier.

Maybach Zeppelin owners can also use other fragrances, or even have one specially developed and enjoy the luxury of immersing themselves in their very own, personally designed aroma. The fragrance holders are easily interchangeable. The specification includes a total of three valuable vials, which are hand-blown by a well-known glass artist.

The elaborate, silent-running perfume atomiser system is a patented Maybach innovation.

The Maybach 57 Zeppelin costs €406,000, the Maybach 62 Zeppelin has a price tag of €473,200 (German list price, excl. VAT). The perfume atomiser that is exclusive to the Zeppelin can be ordered for an extra €3950 (German list price, excl. VAT).

The new Maybach Zeppelin goes on sale on 3 March 2009, with the first models expected to be delivered to customers in September 2009.

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Despite rumors that sales of the uber-luxury Maybach sedan have slowed to a death march, Daimler CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche has reassured rabid fans of the line [namely, Busta Ryhmes and Rick Ross] that Maybach is here to stay. Furthmore, Zetsche also maintains that despite reporting a sales total of only 146 Maybach’s in 2007, the line is not losing money. Impressively, Zetche and Damlier plan to put their money where their mouth is, cementing their devotion to the Maybach line with plans to introduce a new drop-top model, the Maybach 62S Landaulet. Priced at a conservative $1.35 million [approximately 2 platinum club bangers and/or 4 Lil' Wayne remixes], the new Landaulet will compete with the new offerings surfacing from fellow luxury brands like Bentley and Rolls Royce.

[Source: AutoNews.com]

The Maybach Exelero is a one-off high-performance sports car designed and built by German luxury car manufacturer Maybach, and presented in May 2005 in Berlin, Germany. The Exelero is a chopped-down two-seater coupe with a bored out 5.9 liter V12 engine that puts out 700 hp and over 738lb ft of torque. Despite its 5,864 pounds, it can get up over 218mph and can go from 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds.

The car’s design was the result of a competition among students at the Pforzheim Polytechnic Department of Transport Design, which has worked on show vehicles for Fulda in the past. The design of 24-year-old Fredrik Burchhardt was chosen. That’s got to be pretty cool to have your student project design get made into an $8 million dollar car.

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