For nearly 50 years, Brabus has been the name you call when a Mercedes isn’t unhinged enough. So when the Bottrop outfit revealed its first true coachbuilt halo car at FuoriConcorso last weekend, the assumption was a hopped-up SL or S-Class with the badges shaved off. What Brabus actually delivered is the Bodo: a 986-horsepower V12 hyper-GT built on the bones of an Aston Martin Vanquish.
A Tribute Decades in the Making
The car is named after Bodo Buschmann, who founded Brabus in 1977 and ran it until his death in 2018. His son Constantin, who runs the company today, says this is the car his father had been talking about for nearly two decades but never got around to building.
So the team built it for him, just in time for Brabus’s 50th anniversary next year. Production is capped at 77 units as a nod to the founding year, with only 10 to 15 made annually.
An Aston in Brabus Drag
The Vanquish base is the move that makes this build so interesting. Brabus has poked outside the Mercedes garage before (Bentleys, Porsches, even a Lambo Urus), but reskinning a Vanquish is something entirely new. The aluminum monocoque and 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 stay, but everything else goes.
Brabus pulled the V12 apart and added a new set of turbos, revised heads, fresh fuel management, and a stacked stainless exhaust to land at 1,000 metric hp (986 SAE) and 885 lb-ft, all of which is sent rearward through the carryover eight-speed auto. A setup that’s good for 0 to 62 mph in 3.0 seconds flat with a top speed capped at 223 mph, and a deployable rear wing that doubles as an air brake.
The body is bespoke carbon over the aluminum chassis, and only the roof carries over from the donor car. Unsurprisingly, Brabus decided to go fully blacked out (both inside and out) for chassis 01. Black wheels, black leather, and black exposed carbon in the engine bay. We expect that most of the 77 units are going to look exactly like this.
Spec Sheet
Model: 2027 Brabus Bodo
Base Vehicle: Aston Martin Vanquish
Engine: Twin-turbocharged 5.2L V12
Power: 986 hp (1,000 metric hp)
Torque: 885 lb-ft
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Drivetrain: Rear-wheel drive
0 to 62 MPH: 3.0 seconds
Top Speed: 223 mph (electronically limited)
Weight: 3,911 lbs
Brakes: Carbon-ceramic (16.1″ front, 14.1″ rear)
Body: Carbon fiber over aluminum monocoque
Limited Edition: 77 units
Pricing & Availability
Only 77 of these will ever exist, and Brabus is only building 10 to 15 a year, so the wait list is going to be the real gatekeeper here. Pricing starts at €1,000,000 (roughly $1.16 million), and it’s strictly built to order.
Recap
2027 Brabus Bodo
Brabus marks 50 years by building the V12 hyper-GT its founder always wanted, dropping a 986-hp twin-turbo V12 into an Aston Martin Vanquish and capping production at 77.
