Friday 13th May 2005

Maybach one-off astonishes

700bhp monster for testing ultra-low profile tyres

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700bhp Maybach Excelero rockets round the circuit at Nardo this week

This is the incredible Maybach Exelero. Built for tyre manufacturer Fulda as a promotional vehicle, the Maybach-engineered car boasts around 700bhp and is destined to be one of the most unusual one-off vehicles ever made.

Part of the rationale for building it was to provide Fulda with a test platform for its ultra-low profile performance tyres -- up to an mega-skinny 23-inches. The Exelero is capable of 210 mph as proved on the Nardo test track recently.

Launched this week in Berlin, Maybach is adamant that this is the only car of its type that will make it into production. More pictures and video to follow shortly -- watch PistonHeads carefully.

[dinkel]

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=178186

[PetrolTed]

I was at the launch and will publish some video of it on track later

[dinkel]

Please . . . you will do us a big favour. How did she sound?

www.move-on.net/move-on/bilder/cms/DSC00742.JPG
This is were it came from???!!!

[dnewton]

Here's a good link...
www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/maybach_exelero.asp

this car is truly awesome

[cdp]

Somehow it reminds me of the batmobile.

[verysideways]

The rear quarter view is fantastic - apart from the cheese cutter grill, i love the whole car!

VS

[dinkel]

cdp said:

Somehow it reminds me of the batmobile.

It's the color really . . .

[PetrolTed]

It sounds great. Quite a bit of tyre squeal through the corners though as it is quite a hefty beast on very skinny tyres.

Apparently it was immensely hot inside as it's more suited to faster tracks as it needs lots of air to cool it.

[Robbo1]

Quite a machine (apart from the grille) - and they got Klaus Ludwig to pedal it as well!

But Fulda could have saved themselves some cash and got hold of a Speed 12.....

[errek72]

I guess it should be applauded that a 'serious' car company is still able to pull something like this off.
But does it really have to look like a Hyunday trying to be a Lexus? What a shame considering all those great cars young designers are dreaming up.
Just a thought...



Not really a Maybach, but neither is the one they made.

[PetrolTed]

www.pistonheads.tv/clip371

[jellison]

Max Bling - Quality

[dinkel]

PetrolTed said:

www.pistonheads.tv/clip371

Seems rather difficult to slur the beast through the twisties. Sounds nice but not as impressive as a Macca SLR . . . Still, cruising town friday night with a Maybach like this would draw enough attention . . . Autobahn at 300 kmh gets me in Berlin in no time . . . Ideal commuting vehicle.

[cho]

Why spend so much money on building a one off vehicle to test tyres if they are not going to be producing the car. Does Maybach (Mercedes) make enough money to be able to afford these 'toys' or does Fulda make enough to be able to commission a one off from Maybach? So looks like another super expensive car coming to the market soon?

Cho

[Dr Strangelove]

Looks like it was built for Satan himself. Nasty sinister looking thing, and ultimately lacking beauty. I wonder what kind of people would buy it (when they eventually produce it)

...and the alloys look like they face the wrong way.

[corozin]

Looks like a poorly body-kitted Lexus to me... ugh...

[DodgeyRog]

Oh..............my..........god!!!

It looked like it was struggling like fury round them thar bends. Not too sure about that to be honest, it needs to be bit shorter on the wheelbase, it looks too much like a ruded up lexus.

it made want to do this; www.mtv.com/sitewide/apps/mediaplayer/index.jhtml?vid=36676&
channelID=1&orgID=2&gateway=movies&paid=0§ion_0=shared&
section_1=movies§ion_2=interviews§ion_3=t§ion_4=
team_america_matt_trey_041014§ion_5=&refURL=/shared/movies/interviews

Edited to stop the link making the page 6 pages wide - copy and paste complete link into your URL

>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Friday 13th May 20:27

[sirtophamhat]

Dr Strangelove said:

Looks like it was built for Satan himself. Nasty sinister looking thing, and ultimately lacking beauty. I wonder what kind of people would buy it (when they eventually produce it) ...and the alloys look like they face the wrong way.

For me atleast, the sinister appearance would be a lot of the appeal. It's not pretty in a conventional sense, but it smacks of comic book villian.

[FourWheelDrift]

I like the photos of it but on track it just looked too big and lumbering.

[roop]

Too lardy. Reminds me of a modern version of the 6000 SUX from RoboCop the way it heaves around the track