Maybach: Learjet or car?

New and old Maybachs stand next to each other in challenge to Rolls-Royce

LONDON, England (CNN) – More than 60 years after the last Maybach left the production line, DaimlerChrysler is re-launching the brand to take on Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

At a plant in Sindelfingen, southwest of the German city of Stuttgart, a team of workers is handcrafting each car to the customer's specifications. Buyers can travel down to the factory and watch their Maybach being put together.

DaimlerChrysler, the world's biggest luxury carmaker, hopes to attract sufficient numbers of the seriously rich and powerful with its luxurious interiors, made of wood or stone, and reclining airline style rear seats.

Potential buyers will need a chauffeur to drive the 5.5-metre long car, which is expected to cost about $300,000 when it goes on sale at the beginning of 2003. DaimlerChrysler will start taking orders in September but only 1,000 will be made each year.

Airline style reclining seats to attract the super rich and powerful

New Rolls-Royces cost about the same amount and BMW, Daimler's biggest rival, will begin selling Rolls-Royces early next year when it acquires the rights to the super-luxury brand from Volkswagen. But BMW cannot promote the car until it owns the brand next year and Daimler hopes to exploit that hiatus.

The first Maybach car, the W3, was unveiled at the Berlin Motor Show in 1921 but after World War II production was not restarted because of the prevailing economic conditions.

The latest incarnation made its road debut in New York last month with a drive down Wall Street. Daimler expects to sell at least 400 in the United States. According to the company, global sales of cars worth more than $250,000 are about 8,500 a year.