Brabus Bodo: the Mercedes tuner's first car of its own is a 1,000 PS V12 grand tourer

For almost fifty years Brabus has made other people's cars faster, mostly Mercedes. The Bodo is the first car it sells under its own name, and it is named after the man who started the company in Bottrop in 1977. Bodo Buschmann died in 2018. According to Brabus, the one thing he kept asking for and never built was a large Gran Turismo coupe. His son Constantin, now CEO, has built it.

The coupe was shown in May 2026 at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este on Lake Como. The Bodo Cabriolet followed on 14 August 2026 at The Quail during Monterey Car Week. Each is its own limited series of 77 cars, a nod to 1977, so there will be 154 in total. Brabus says it will build 10 to 15 a year.

The numbers

Drive goes to the rear wheels only, through an eight-speed torque-converter automatic and an electronic differential that can lock fully. That is a lot of torque for two tyres, which is presumably why the rears are 325/30 ZR 21s on 11.5-inch rims on the coupe.

What Brabus actually built

The whole body, apart from the glass, is carbon fibre made in Brabus's own autoclaves in Bottrop. The face is the part you will remember or argue about: a tall grille with 13 vertical slats and two RAM-AIR ducts built into it that feed the V12. At 130 cm tall and 506 cm long, it is a long, low car.

The rear wing works harder than most. It extends in two stages with speed, and under heavy braking above 140 km/h it stands vertical as an air brake. The exhausts are two stacked rectangular titanium outlets per side, 3D-printed, and there is a "77" logo under the rear window. Both axles can lift about 25 mm for kerbs and ramps, dropping back automatically at 45 km/h.

Inside it is a 2+2 with leather and Nubuck throughout, Brabus's "Shell" quilting carried onto the floor and into the boot, carbon pedals, and Bodo Buschmann's signature embroidered into the door panels. Every car also gets a blockchain-based digital product passport, tied to a spec plate in the boot.

What Brabus does not say

Brabus never names the donor car on its own pages. Press coverage from the launch, including Top Gear and GTspirit, describes it as a reworked Aston Martin Vanquish. GTspirit notes that Brabus took the V12 up from the Aston's standard 835 hp.

It also publishes no price, no kerb weight and no wheelbase. Top Gear puts the coupe above €1 million, and GTspirit reported more than half of the run already sold. We will add the missing figures to the Bodo page when Brabus publishes them.

Sources: Brabus, BRABUS BODO and BRABUS BODO CABRIOLET; launch reports by Top Gear and GTspirit as linked above. Photographs: Brabus.