Mercedes has a novel idea to simulate sales of its sluggish-selling Rolls-Royce competitor. Since it's not selling as well as the company had hoped, why not crank up the price? The Maybach 57 and 62 have both received a $3,500 price increase for the 2008 model year, bringing their total tallies to $341,750 and $392,750 respectively. The Maybach marque has not lived up to Mercedes' expectations, so the German automaker been quietly smothering franchises with pillows, reducing the count of Maybach stores to 29 from an original number of 71. While the brand seems to be floundering, rumors abound of expanding the model count by offering a GL variant and a smaller S600-sized (but not priced) model. For now, though, with only two models, exclusivity seems to be Maybach's stock in trade, and now it's got an even higher price to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[Source: Inside Line]