The Maybach brand may not have been a major sales success for Mercedes-Benz but that doesn’t mean officials have totally abandoned the ultra-luxury marque. Engineers are currently updating the 62 flagship with a facelift for the 2009 model year. These latest spy shots reveal some of the changes we can expect in the facelifted model, due to hit showrooms in the second half of next year.

The changes are very minor, comprising a set of new taillamps with LEDs and a revised grille with fewer vertical slats.

A test-mule for a next-generation Maybach model has also been spotted recently, circling the streets of Stuttgart. The prototype was wearing makeshift S-Class panels but its extra girth and stretched wheelbase were a dead giveaway as to what was really lurking beneath the sheet metal. The new model isn’t expected to arrive until 2012 at the earliest.