BRABUS just unveiled the Bodo, a coachbuilt, carbon-bodied V12 grand tourer created to fulfill a vision founder Bodo Buschmann never got to see built. Based loosely on an Aston Martin Vanquish but turned into a 986-hp, 224-mph autobahn weapon, it’s limited to 77 units and starts at €1,000,000 (about $1.16M).Bodo Buschmann founded BRABUS in Bottrop in autumn 1977 while he was still studying law and business management. If you wanted an extremely fast yet elegant Mercedes, AMG was your destination. If you wanted an autobahn monster, Bottrop was the place.For nearly five decades, that was the deal – and Buschmann was the one who made it. He passed away on April 26, 2018, after a short illness.AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat he left behind, beyond a globally recognized tuning empire, was an idea nobody had yet built. Honoring company founder Bodo Buschmann and limited to just 77 units globally, the new BRABUS Bodo was unveiled at the FuoriConcorso in Italy – a departure for the brand, and an idea they’d been sitting on for nearly two decades.The name is obvious. The car is anything but.1,000 HP, an Aston Martin Foundation, and a Carbon BodyThe resulting Gran Turismo appears to be loosely based on the Aston Martin Vanquish, although you’ll have to look closely to spot the British connection.The Bodo is the wayward son of an Aston Martin Vanquish. You can see it in the profile of the glass – reworked from scratch, gaining a more menacing, squarer front end with a vented bonnet and an almost boat-tail rear that drops away to knee height.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe entire body is constructed from carbon fiber, which keeps weight in check and makes the aerodynamics work hard enough to support a claimed top speed of 224 mph.Power comes from a twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 producing 986 hp and 885 lb-ft of torque – comfortably ahead of the 824 hp and 737 lb-ft generated by the standard Vanquish.An eight-speed automatic handles the shift work, enabling a 0–62 mph sprint of exactly three seconds.For the kinds of buyers this car targets, the 0-186 mph figure is probably more relevant. Per the press materials, that takes 23.9 seconds. It’s an old-school, full-fat, rear-wheel-drive V12 GT in a world increasingly populated with low-calorie, efficient fast cars.AdvertisementAdvertisementThat’s a deliberate choice on BRABUS’s part.77 Units, a Blockchain Passport, and a Weekender BagPricing starts at €1,000,000 – roughly $1.16 million – though buyers do receive keys and a weekender bag matched to their car’s interior leather.Generous.There’s also a blockchain-based digital product passport in the cargo compartment that provides verified documentation of authenticity, ownership, and vehicle specification.Inside, the Aston Martin DNA is more apparent – the multimedia and switchgear carries over directly from the Vanquish, which means Apple CarPlay and the usual luxuries you’d want for a cross-continental run.The cabin is trimmed in smooth black leather and contrasting Nubuck, with the silhouette of the car embroidered onto the seat backrests and Buschmann’s own signature stitched into the door panels.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe “77” badge under the rear window ties the number back to the founding year, while production itself – capped at 10 to 15 cars annually – guarantees this stays genuinely rare rather than the marketing-department kind of rare.A million euros for a car limited to 77 units that looks this spectacular and is based on the proven mechanicals of a not-inexpensive GT isn’t actually that much.Relative to the competition, that argument holds up. For a first-ever coachbuilt model from a company that spent nearly 50 years turning other people’s cars into monsters, it’s also a fitting way to close the loop on a promise its founder never got to keep.
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