Monster 200mph Merc Muscles In

By Julie Sinclair

17th May 2005

Styled as a luxury two-door stretch limousine, the Exelero is a staggering 5.89 metres long. And if you think those smooth lines look familiar, there's more than a touch of the McLaren SLR to it - particularly in the way the roof tails off at the back and on the side-mounted exhaust pipe.

There is strong chrome detailing, too, with the rear lights formed into elongated 'S' shapes and a V12 badge on the wing behind the front wheel. Inside, the dramatic black and red cabin is a mix of leather, neoprene, aluminium and carbon fibre.

Turin-based coachbuilder Stola has brought the vision to life to showcase not only the latest design and engineering technology, but also a new tyre developed by Fulda.

The concept coup΃© - which cost an estimated ΂£1.2million to make - wears the brand new, ultra-low-profile, high-performance Exelero 315/25 ZR 23. According to Fulda's engineers, this is the lowest-profile rubber of its kind - which leaves enough space for the Maybach's enormous 23-inch wheels inside the arches. But why go to the effort of designing a whole new car? In its 99 years of tyre-making, German company Fulda has a history of using special vehicles as a platform for advertising its products - ranging from luxury buses to trucks and racing machines. And it has worked with Maybach before in this way.

The last time that the two firms collaborated was on a car badged the SW 38 during the Thirties. To mark that anniversary, Fulda challenged Maybach to transform the current 54's chassis into a Grand Tourer capable of hitting the magic figure of 350kph, or 218mph. And this is the result.

Maybach's senior technical developer J΃¼rgen Weissinger was responsible for turning the idea into reality. He explained: "The original car was used for testing tyres, and Fulda came up with the idea of doing that again. But turning the current 57 saloon into a coup΃© was a real challenge." Part of the process involved moving the A-pillar 400mm to the rear to give the Exelero its distinctive long nose.

Weissinger told us: "This is a handmade vehicle. Putting it into production would involve changes which would make it a whole new car. You would need to develop the tools, and there would also be US manufacturing regulations to take into account."