Maybach Logo

The majority of Germany’s luxury cars are produced by Maybach – one of the oldest car brands in Germany and the world. In 1960 they’ve been added to the Mercedes family, and incorporated into Mercedes itself in 2013. They still make top-tier cars, because that’s their greatest specialty.

Meaning and History

The core shape of Maybach’s emblem is a double M-letter. Now, it can be interpreted as ‘Mercedes-Maybach’ combination. Before, it was often deciphered as ‘Maybach Manufaktur’, or ‘Maybach Motorenbau’ (Mayback Engine Construction). There haven’t been too many variations of their logo, and this image has always been there.

1909 – 1997

Maybach is very old. They’ve been founded in 1909, and, over the course of their history, their products included airship engines, tanks engines, and, of course, cars.

In the center of the first logo was a plectrum-like shape with orange colors. A thin white outline was followed by an additional orange line, and then a thick white frame (which was, in turn, also outlined in orange).

There were also two green elements. The first was a thin company name in the bottom of a frame. The other is an iconic Maybach structure that looks like a double M-letter. The wide and low M is penetrated in the middle by a narrow tall one. This entire shape in framed in thin white and put inside an orange plectrum.

1997 – 2013

For the modern logo, the general idea and the composition remain the same, although the outline logic took a radical turn. The layers are now: thin silver one, thick black one and another silver line. There is now no room for the name in any of these frames, so they decided to get rid of it.

The green elements inside were also turned into black, which is now one of the two prevalent colors. The second is still orange, but it’s now richly spiced up with lighting and gradient.

In 2013 Daimler – the owners of Maybach since the 60s – decided that this company is too expensive to keep up on its own, and from then on, their cars are being manufactured and released by Mercedes.

Emblem and Symbol

On cars, Maybach usually put just a plectrum with the letters inside – both on a stick in front and on the side (mostly in metal). After 2013, however, some cars just use Mercedes logo. They really like to put their symbols on a stick. It makes them stand out as a luxury car developer.

The Legends

It’s strange to think so, but Maybach didn’t produce new cars until 2002. The new models, like 57, 62 and Exelero are mostly very rare collectibles sold in tens or hundreds per country. Before, they created the legends from the 30s, like Zepellin or DSH, which were even then very luxurious.

Between the two streaks, they made engines for the war and engines for Mercedes for the remainder of the century.