Maybach Exelero

Development

The Exelero was commissioned by Fulda, a German subsidiary of Goodyear, to test their new Carat Exelero tyre range. The Exelero was the second vehicle to serve as a one-off show car for Fulda's high performance tyre 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 so that the physical limits of the Exelero tyres 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. In 2007, Stola introduced the Phalcon, a two-door coupe inspired by the Exelero.

Specifications

Powertrain

The Exelero is powered by a twin turbo V12 engine made by the defunct Maybach (now a part of the Mercedes-Benz division of Daimler AG), and mounted at 60º. Each cylinder has three valves, and a compression ratio of 9.2:1. The engine produces 700 PS at 5,000rpm and 752 ftlb of torque at 2,500rpm. It is mated to a 5G-Tronic automatic transmission.

The Exelero has a theoretical top speed of 351 km/h and a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 4.4seconds.

Wheels

The Exelero has alloy wheels with diameters of 23 in at the front and the rear. The Fulda Carat Exelero tyres with a size of 315/25 ZR 23 for both the front and rear. The brakes are vented discs at the front and rear, and are 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 fibre, and aluminium accents. The Exelero has sport seats with red harness-style seatbelts.

Exterior

The Exelero's exterior is black with a long hood, chrome grille 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. 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 featured the car in the music video for "Lost One".

The car is shown in the Japanese anime Nisekoi 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 is now in an automobile museum in Dietzhölztal Germany as part of the Friedhelm Loh collection.

References

References

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6. (1 August 2005). "Maybach Exelero - Road Test & Review - Automobile Magazine". Automobile Magazine.
7. "Geneva Motor Show: Stola Phalcon coupe".
8. "2005 Maybach Exelero Concept specifications, carbon dioxide emissions, fuel economy, performance, photos 128436".
9. "Legend – Mayback Exelero Reviews".
10. "Rapper pays $8m for one-off Maybach".
11. (9 January 2012). "Maybach Exelero".
12. "Mechatronik: Was wird aus dem Maybach Exelero?".
13. (2006-12-11). "Jay Z Drives the Maybach Exelero Concept in "Lost Ones"".
14. (22 March 2014). "Nisekoi – 11".