Maybach Exelero. Strange, but mesmerizing
One of the rarest and most unusual supercars, the Maybach Exelero, appeared in 2005 only because Fulda, a popular German tire brand that is part of the Goodyear Group, asked DaimlerChrysler to make a car to test a new line of Carat Exelero tires. The company took a very thorough approach to the request of the tire experts. Students from the School of Transport Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Pforzheim were involved in the development. The car was manufactured by the Italian company Stola in Turin. This is how this incredibly powerful, high-speed and unusually beautiful coupe was born.
Exterior
The controversial, but certainly attractive exterior was designed by Frederik Burchardt, whose version of the coupe eventually won the competition. But considering that Burchardt was a young amateur, the final design was finalized at the School of Transport Design at the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences. The Maybach Exelero looks like Darth Vader in his famous helmet: it’s black, grim, aerodynamic and has a toothy grille in front. The Exelero is actually based on the Maybach 57, but it’s impossible to recognize the classic conservative sedan when you look at the aggressive and pretentious Exelero. Oddly enough, the 2005 supercar is more like the 1939 Maybach SW38, which served as one of the reference points for the Exelero designers. The car features the same smooth lines, an elongated silhouette, and a narrow radiator grille.
Powertrain
Fulda’s principal condition was related to the car’s speed. Thus, the model had to be able to develop more than 350 km/h, which was necessary for testing tires in extremely harsh conditions. Therefore, the Exelero was equipped with a twin-turbocharged V12 engine. The engine produced 700 hp (515 kW) at 5,000 rpm and 1,020 Nm of torque at 2,500 rpm, and was paired with a 5G-Tronic automatic transmission. As a result, the maximum speed of the supercar even exceeded 350 km/h, as required, and it accelerated to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds. As for the tires, the car featured the Fulda Carat Exelero 315/25 ZR 23 tires on the front and rear wheels. The 23-inch wheels were light-alloy.
Interesting facts
- The Maybach Exelero is incredibly long - 6.2 meters. This feature is striking and makes a lasting impression. As for other parameters, the supercar is 2.1 meters wide and 1.39 meters high.
- It is quite heavy (2.6 tons), but it does not look like that due to its elongated silhouette and a uniquely low aerodynamic coefficient of 0.25.
- The car has a huge hood lid on which you can place a grand piano, as well as huge doors, almost the entire length of the passenger compartment.
- The Exelero is not only an ordinary testing ground for new tires, but also an expression of the individualized strategy of the Maybach brand (which was still separate from Mercedes-Benz back then). That is, Maybach showed everyone that it can make absolutely unique cars.
- The first Exelero car had a starting price of more than $5 million. Its current price is unknown. Moreover, it is unknown how many cars were made in general, as the production is carried out confidentially. It is believed that at the moment there are only about 10 cars in the world.
- But it is known that the first Maybach Exelero was bought by rapper Sean Carter, better known as Jay-Z. The car has appeared in a couple of movies and on the Supercar Blondie YouTube channel. It was last seen in 2019. Or maybe it was another Exelero…
