Show more Photos
 

Related Content

• » Maybach 62 S
• » Maybach is world's costliest convertible
• » Maybach 57 and 62 (2002 - To Date) : BACH IN BLACK
• » Photos : Maybach Maybach

Maybach makes a concept car with a purpose

The Maybach Exelero is not your typical concept car. Yes, it has the jaw dropping looks to pull the crowds at a packed Frankfurt Show, with the designers somehow stretching a two door, two seat shape over 5.9 metres in length; yes, its interior has all the right ingredients too, mixing natural leather, neoprene, coated perforated aluminium and red and black carbon fibre to create a look I can only describe as luxurious racecar cool. Then you'll notice that the instruments actually work, and so do the serious looking race harnesses...

As I said, the Exelero is no ordinary show car. In fact, Fulda, the tyre manufacturer, started the project off as a high profile way to test its new range of Carat Exelero high-performance tyres, echoing a similar project between Maybach and Fulda in the late thirties. The onset of war prevented that car from carrying out its intended goals, but the Exelero had its day before it had to do battle with the onlookers in Frankfurt. In May of this year Fulda took the Exelero to the Nardo test track in Italy. Klaus Ludwig, a seasoned racer, strapped himself into the massive black beast, and thanks to a few aerodynamic tweaks managed to hit just over 220mph.

That figure is apparently a record for a road car on production tyres, and boding well for the next generation of supercars was the fact that the Exelero rode on 23-inch rims. This feat was thanks not only to the slippery design of the concept car (refined in an extensive wind tunnel development programme), but also the not inconsiderable shove of a 5.9-litre V12 twin-turbo engine with 700bhp and a massive 752lb.ft of torque. Given that the car weighs well over 2.5 tonnes, this remains a fantastic achievement, concept car or not.

Send by Messenger

Email this article

 Print