Mercedes-Benz finally appears to be getting its head straight in regards to the laughable Maybach brand. The Financial Times indicates that Mercedes is courting Aston Martin to help bring the Maybach name back from the brink; the plan is to allow the British automaker to both design and manufacture Benz's Bentley competitor.
All these murmurings involve a lot of back-and-forth; in this case, Aston would do Mercedes's Maybach work, while Mercedes could provide powertrain tech to the British marque (think smaller displacement engines). Apparently outsourcing the next Maybach's assembly and coachwork to Aston could be cheaper than if Mercedes did it on its own.