The Maybach Exelero is a

one-off In the field of vehicles authorized to drive, a one-off vehicle is a vehicle that was manufactured only once. The production of unique vehicles is reduced to one unit in each case. The easiest cases to analyze are those of cars and motorcycles. Un ...

high-performance

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

made by Stola (now part of Blutec) in collaboration with

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

. It was unveiled at the

Tempodrom The Tempodrom (also referred to as Neues Tempodrom) is a multi-purpose event venue in Berlin. Founded by Irene Moessinger, it opened in 1980 next to the Berlin Wall on the west side of Potsdamer Platz, housed in a large circus tent. After severa ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

in 2005.

Development

The Exelero was commissioned by

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, a German subsidiary of Goodyear, to test their new Carat Exelero tire range. The Exelero was the second vehicle to serve as a one-off show car for Fulda's high performance tire range, the first being the Gemballa Extremo in 1996. In collaboration with Maybach, the initial design of the Exelero was to be influenced by the Maybach SW 38 and built on the platform of the Maybach 57. Another important design stipulation from Fulda was that the car should be able to reach speeds in excess of 350 km/h (217 mph) so that the physical limits of the Exelero tires could be tested. The final design of the Exelero was produced by four students from the Transportation Design School of

Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences Pforzheim University is a public university of applied science in Germany. Located in Pforzheim, it was created to meet the demand for specialists in the jewelry industry and science, before it grew to become one of the most important and resear ...

. In 2007, Stola introduced the Phalcon, a 2-door coupe inspired by the Exelero.

Specifications

Powertrain

The Exelero is powered by a twin turbo

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The f ...

made by the defunct

Maybach Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...

(now a part of the

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

division of

Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...

), and mounted at 60º. Each

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an ...

has 3 valves, and a compression ratio of 9.2:1. The engine produces at 5000 rpm and of torque at 2500 rpm. It is mated to a 5G-Tronic automatic transmission. The Exelero has a top speed of 351 km/h (218 mph) and a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 4.4 seconds.

Wheels

The Exelero has alloy wheels with diameters of 23 inches at the front and the rear. The

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

are Fulda Carat Exeleros with codes of 315/25 ZR 23 for both the front and rear. The brakes are vented discs at the front and rear, and the car comes equipped with ABS.

Interior

The main materials used in the construction of the Exelero's interior are dark and red leather, neoprene, glossy black

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

, and aluminum accents. The Exelero has sport seats with red harness-style seatbelts.

Exterior

The Exelero's exterior is black with a long hood, chrome grill and fuel cap.

In popular culture

The car is noted for being portrayed in an episode of long-running German show '' Cobra 11'', in which it is used in the ending chase of the episode "Freundschaft". According to '' Top Gear'', the vehicle was purchased by rapper Birdman in 2011 for US$8 million. Right now the car is owned by Mechatronik. In January 2012, ''Motorvison'' profiled the car, which was then owned by Mechatronik and located in Germany, and reports previous rumors of sale to be unfounded.

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

featured the car in the music video for " Lost One". The car is also shown in the Japanese anime

Nisekoi is a Japanese romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi. ''Nisekoi'' was first published as a one-shot manga in Shueisha's seasonal '' Jump NEXT!'' magazine before being serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' ...

on its first season's 11th episode as a birthday gift to Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of the Beehive Gang boss, by Claude, the guardian of Chitoge. The car also featured in an episode on Supercar Blondie's YouTube channel. ''Supercar Blondie'' on YouTube

References

External links

{{Maybach Post Revival Exelero Coupés Grand tourers Cars introduced in 2005 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles One-off cars