An article in "Fortune" noted that Mercedes had missed out on the chance to purchase Rolls-Royce and Bentley when they were up for sale in the 1990s: "Mercedes backpedaled and decided it needed to be in the ultra-luxury business too, but it went after it in a remarkably clumsy way." It further stated that the first Maybach models had poor driving dynamics compared to its contemporaries from Rolls-Royce and Bentley: "Mercedes took an aging S-class chassis and plopped an absurdly elongated body on it ... rather than develop a new car from the wheels up, as BMW did with Rolls-Royce, or cleverly use the underpinnings of an existing model like the Volkswagen Phaeton for a new Bentley." Furthermore, Maybachs were never advertised as owner-driven vehicles, as the company believed that the luxury amenities would be sufficient to drive sales, and they even insisted that auto journalists (who usually test drive the vehicle) ride in the backseat.