Maybach Exelero (2005)
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2005 Maybach Exelero
Big-bucks enthusiasts annoyed that they're not the only ones at the club with a Veyron can now ensure that they arrive in total exclusivity. That's because the one-off Maybach Exelero, commissioned by Fulda to act as a high-profile demonstrator for its tire line of the same name, is now for sale. The Exelero isn't some delicate flower of a show car. Based on the Maybach 57 and powered by a 700-horsepower version of that car's turbocharged V12, the Exelero reached 218 mph at Nardo. In many ways, Exelero represents what Maybach could have and should have been -- a place where daring styling and incredible performance could merge with extreme luxury to compete with Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Instead, while the marque's sedans clearly get the luxury part of the equation right, in terms of styling, they basically work in anonymity, looking like peculiar old S-Class sedans. There's nothing anonymous about the Exelero, though, and for €5,000,000 (around $7.8 million USD), you can drive the sybaritic supercar that Daimler should have given Maybach all along.
2005 Maybach Exelero Specifications
| Chassis | |
| Brakes F/R: | ABS, vented disc/vented disc |
| Tires F-R: | 315/25 ZR23 |
| Driveline: | n.a. |
| Engine | |
| Type: | V12, Twin-turbo |
| Displacement cu in (cc): | 360 (5908) |
| Power bhp (kW) at RPM: | 700(515) / 5000 |
| Torque lb-ft (Nm) at RPM: | 753(1020) / 2500 |
| Redline at RPM: | n.a. |
| Exterior | |
| Length × Width × Height in: | 229.7 × 83.5 × 54.2 |
| Weight lb (kg): | 5863 (2660) |
| Performance | |
| Acceleration 0-62 mph s: | 4.4 |
| Top Speed mph (km/h): | 218 (351) |
| Fuel Economy EPA city/highway mpg (l/100 km): | n.a. |
The Legend Lives: Maybach Exelero Show Car
Just imagine an automobile that combines the elegance and first-class quality of a high-end limousine with the powerful suppleness of a sports coupe. Create a vehicle in your mind's eye which, with an unladen weight of over 2.66 tons and the dimensions of a small transporter, achieves a maximum speed of over 210 mph. Conceive an ultra-high performance tire which not only copes with the aforementioned weight, the dimensions and the speed, but also makes the automobile safe, stable and comfortable. Such a vehicle and such tires do not exist? Now they do. Meet Maybach Exelero with Fulda tires.
Fulda is introducing a new sophisticated high-tech tire to the market. For the most extreme dimension of this tire line, 315/25 ZR 23, licensed for speeds of more than 218 mph (350 km/h), and that as a series tire, not a racing tire, what was needed was a high-speed vehicle but not a racing car. A few years ago, one the most exclusive German automobile makes was revived, why not organize a joint project together once again, just like in the old days?
Cooperating with Maybach
The contacts were made and thanks to Rene Staud, a world-class photographer of automobiles and an outstanding "networker" of DaimlerChrysler and Fulda Reifen, they were purposefully and effectively developed. Following several coordinating discussions with Leon Hustinx, Maybach's manager, agreement was reached: Maybach would build a car for Fulda. Objective: to position the vehicle as an impressive ambassador for the new ultra-high performance tire generation Exelero. An indispensable helper in the boat with the project partners: two professors and four students from Pforzheim Polytechnic's Dpartment of Transport Design. Together with the design professionals from DaimlerChrysler, under the direction of Professor Harald Leschke, the team went to work and after three-quarters of a year of promising design proposals, it was decided to realize the outline of the student Fredrik Burchhardt. He succeded in producing the most elegant symbiosis of design elements of former and present vehicle generations.
The Construction and Test Phase
Transforming a limousine, the basis for the Exelero is the Maybach 57, into a coupe is extremely demanding. Jurgen Weissinger and his team were astonished to find that, although the dimensions of the former SW 38 differed in the length (the Maybach 57 has 11 inches longer wheelbase), in terms of breadth and height they were very similar. That simplified a whole series of structural measures.
When considering the engine alternatives, it soon became clear that the basic twelve-cylinder engine used in the Maybach limousines would not achieve the desired maximum speed of around 220 mph despite the Biturbo turbo charger. Here, the Mercedes Car Group leapt into the breach. The engine specialists in Unterturkheim, the place where all basic engines are developed, provided energetic support for the project.
After several optimization of the Maybach type 12 engine, the cubic capacity was increased from 5.6 to 5.9 liters and the turbo charge optimized. The result was convincing: on the test bed almost 700 bhp and at least 750 lb-ft of torque were recorded, sufficient to achieve the targeted maximum speed of around 220 mph.
Before, during and after the aforementioned work, the individual evolutionary steps were supported by corresponding tests. Either on engine test beds in the plants or on test tracks like the high-speed oval in Nardo/Southern Italy or the test track in Cloppenburg.
The final test measurements at the end of April/beginning of May 2005, once again on the high speed Motodrom Nardo, then produced the well-earned success of lost of hard work: a top speed of 218.25 mph (351.45 km/h) - a world record for limousines - on standard tires.
And yet another world record: between the Fulda idea, the outstanding cooperation of all concerned and the delivery of the Maybach Exelero sports coupe, just 25 months passed.
Fulda is introducing a new sophisticated high-tech tire to the market. For the most extreme dimension of this tire line, 315/25 ZR 23, licensed for speeds of more than 218 mph (350 km/h), and that as a series tire, not a racing tire, what was needed was a high-speed vehicle but not a racing car. A few years ago, one the most exclusive German automobile makes was revived, why not organize a joint project together once again, just like in the old days?
Cooperating with Maybach
The contacts were made and thanks to Rene Staud, a world-class photographer of automobiles and an outstanding "networker" of DaimlerChrysler and Fulda Reifen, they were purposefully and effectively developed. Following several coordinating discussions with Leon Hustinx, Maybach's manager, agreement was reached: Maybach would build a car for Fulda. Objective: to position the vehicle as an impressive ambassador for the new ultra-high performance tire generation Exelero. An indispensable helper in the boat with the project partners: two professors and four students from Pforzheim Polytechnic's Dpartment of Transport Design. Together with the design professionals from DaimlerChrysler, under the direction of Professor Harald Leschke, the team went to work and after three-quarters of a year of promising design proposals, it was decided to realize the outline of the student Fredrik Burchhardt. He succeded in producing the most elegant symbiosis of design elements of former and present vehicle generations.
The Construction and Test Phase
Transforming a limousine, the basis for the Exelero is the Maybach 57, into a coupe is extremely demanding. Jurgen Weissinger and his team were astonished to find that, although the dimensions of the former SW 38 differed in the length (the Maybach 57 has 11 inches longer wheelbase), in terms of breadth and height they were very similar. That simplified a whole series of structural measures.
When considering the engine alternatives, it soon became clear that the basic twelve-cylinder engine used in the Maybach limousines would not achieve the desired maximum speed of around 220 mph despite the Biturbo turbo charger. Here, the Mercedes Car Group leapt into the breach. The engine specialists in Unterturkheim, the place where all basic engines are developed, provided energetic support for the project.
After several optimization of the Maybach type 12 engine, the cubic capacity was increased from 5.6 to 5.9 liters and the turbo charge optimized. The result was convincing: on the test bed almost 700 bhp and at least 750 lb-ft of torque were recorded, sufficient to achieve the targeted maximum speed of around 220 mph.
Before, during and after the aforementioned work, the individual evolutionary steps were supported by corresponding tests. Either on engine test beds in the plants or on test tracks like the high-speed oval in Nardo/Southern Italy or the test track in Cloppenburg.
The final test measurements at the end of April/beginning of May 2005, once again on the high speed Motodrom Nardo, then produced the well-earned success of lost of hard work: a top speed of 218.25 mph (351.45 km/h) - a world record for limousines - on standard tires.
And yet another world record: between the Fulda idea, the outstanding cooperation of all concerned and the delivery of the Maybach Exelero sports coupe, just 25 months passed.
Maybach Exelero (2005) In Price US: $7.8 million
