Press Information
December 1, 2021
Project MAYBACH with Virgil Abloh: an installation in homage to a visionary, trusted partner and collaborator.
Following the wishes of Virgil's family, Mercedes-Benz is honoured to reveal Project MAYBACH: a collaborative electric show car designed to inspire the next generation, and forever question the status quo.
Miami / Stuttgart. On 1 December 2021, in lieu of an intimate press event, Mercedes-Benz pays tribute to Virgil Abloh by opening the doors of the Rubell Museum to showcase Project MAYBACH to the public between December 1st - December 2nd, with access offered exclusively to students from local design schools from 11:30am to 12:30pm on December 1st. A humble contribution to Virgil's vast legacy, the Mercedes-Maybach show car exemplifies the possibilities of future design and is the result of an on-going co-operation with the polymath artist, architect, creative director, fashion designer and philanthropist; driven by a shared passion to enrich the conversation around luxury design.
"Mercedes-Benz is devastated to hear of the passing of Virgil Abloh. Our sincere thoughts are with Virgil's family and teams. Now opening the world of our collaboration, and Virgil's unique vision, to the public we want to respectfully celebrate the work of a truly unique design talent, who created endless possibilities for collaboration through his unbridled imagination and inspired all that knew his work." Mercedes-Benz AG.
Introducing Project MAYBACH
A design unlike anything that has been developed by Mercedes-Benz, every element of Project MAYBACH has been built from scratch. Abloh, collaboratively with Gorden Wagener, has interpreted Mercedes-Maybach's luxury identity with a new design language and pushed the boundaries of function, style, and collaborative creativity. Inspired by the great outdoors and recontextualizing a traditionally urban brand within a distinctly off-road environment, the 2-seater, battery-electric off-road coupé combines huge Gran Turismo proportions, large off-road wheels and distinctive attachments.
Key for both Abloh and Wagener was a responsible vision of future design. Complete creative freedom - untethered by production requirements - enabled the design teams to conceptualize what the future of electric travel could look like. Under the transparent surface of the show cars front hood for instance are solar cells that increase the imagined range of the Project MAYBACH.
Never afraid to spark conversation through provocative design, Project MAYBACH channels Abloh's passion to challenge the status quo and re-write the rulebook of aspirational design. The X-Factor nature of Project MAYBACH results not only from its breathtaking size - almost six meters long - and characteristics, but above all from its unique contrasts; most notably through how naturally authentic Mercedes-Maybach design elements are harmoniously combined with a new Outdoor Adventure design motif.
The power of Abloh's work is not only from the product design, but also the exploratory conversations that his work ignited. Whilst the Project MAYBACH show car was inspired by how one could explore nature within a uniquely luxury context with Maybach, the Mercedes-Benz teams thank Virgil Abloh for the inspiration to explore every day the power of cross-industry dialogue to imagine a better, more inclusive future.
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Further details on design-specific elements are available on request.
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For more information about Mercedes-Benz, please contact:
Lara Mneimneh
Public Relations Senior Executive
Mercedes-Benz Cars Middle East
Phone: +971 (0)4 806 5087
E-mail:
[email protected] Mercedes-Benz AG at a glance
Mercedes-Benz AG is responsible for the global business of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans, with over 170,000 employees worldwide. Ola Källenius is Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG. The company focuses on the development, production and sales of passenger cars, vans and vehicle-related services. Furthermore, the company aspires to be the leader in the fields of electric mobility and vehicle software. The product portfolio comprises the Mercedes-Benz brand with the brands of Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-EQ, G-Class and the smart brand. The Mercedes me brand offers access to the digital services from Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz AG is one of the world's largest manufacturers of luxury passenger cars. In 2020 it sold around 2.1 million passenger cars and nearly 375,000 vans. In its two business segments, Mercedes-Benz AG is continually expanding its worldwide production network with around 35 production sites on four continents, while gearing itself to meet the requirements of electric mobility. At the same time, the company is constructing and extending its global battery production network on three continents. As sustainability is the guiding principle of the Mercedes-Benz strategy and for the company itself, this means creating lasting value for all stakeholders: for customers, employees, investors, business partners and society as a whole. The basis for this is Daimler's sustainable business strategy. The company thus takes responsibility for the economic, ecological and social effects of its business activities and looks at the entire value chain.
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Mercedes-Benz AG, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone +49 711 17 - 0, Fax +49 711 17 - 22244,
[email protected], www.mercedes-benz.com
Domicile and Court of Registry: Stuttgart; Commercial Register No. 762873
Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Bernd Pischetsrieder
Board of Management: Ola Källenius (Chairman), Jörg Burzer, Renata Jungo Brüngger, Sabine Kohleisen, Markus Schäfer, Britta Seeger, Harald Wilhelm
The figures are provided in accordance with the German regulation 'PKW-EnVKV' and apply to the German market only. Further information on official fuel consumption figures and the official specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the EU guide 'Information on the fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and energy consumption of new cars', which is available free of charge at all sales dealerships, from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH and at www.dat.de.
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