A V12 Drop Top
Brabus isn’t shy (at all) when it comes to making its creations. The brand is famous for turning Mercedes-Benzes, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolls-Royces, and Range Rovers into brutal expressions of power and luxury. From SUVs to sports cars, Brabus has a wide portfolio, and its latest creation is based on an Aston Martin Vanquish Cabriolet.
It’s called the Brabus Bodo Cabriolet, and it’s a drop-top Grand Tourer that makes 1,000 horsepower out of its V12 engine. It is based on Aston Martin’s Vanquish, which has to be mentioned because of the bespoke body and coachwork that’s gone into this wonderful creation.
This is not the first Bodo; in fact, the hard-top came first, and it was a tribute to one of the brand’s late co-founders, Bodo Buschmann, the father of the current Brabus CEO, Constantin Buschmann.
“The Brabus Bodo is both the next step for the brand and a tribute to my father, Bodo Buschmann. The name and the story behind it are a deliberate homage to him,” says BRABUS CEO and owner Constantin Buschmann. “I must have talked to him about a project like this a hundred times. A large, attitude-forward Gran Turismo that truly embodies the BRABUS DNA while also possessing a completely unique identity of its own. In the end, we had to work eight years to make this dream a reality – and now, we’re taking it one step further with a bold, progressive cabriolet designed in every detail as he would have driven it. That was the statement we wanted to make and, at the same time, the right way to honor his legacy.”
Brabus
“Completely Unique Identity”
You’d be hard-pressed to pick out where the Aston Martin is on the Bodo because Brabus has done an exceptional job of making the Vanquish platform its own. The first Bodo was a hardtop Vanquish that the Brabus team went to town on. The front end is still mostly grille-like the Aston, but it is in a design that’s very Brabus in its language. The slats, the headlights, and the aggressively vented hood all speak volumes about the car and establish its presence.
The rear is a real work of art and a masterclass in coach design. What we’re seeing is a rear end unique to the Bodo, measuring 79.8 inches wide, and it also comes with an active aero spoiler that not only rises to reduce drag at high speeds, but also acts as an airbrake when slowing down at over 87 miles per hour.
The soft top folds into a large rear hump that blends seamlessly with the rest of the car’s rear end and frames the matrix LED taillights. The lower section of that rear end is a bumper that houses the quad titanium exhaust tips and a diffuser. Compared to the hardtop Bodo, what we get is an elegant hump at the rear with a fastback design.
“Attitude Forward”
Brabus will be Brabus, and while the 5.2-liter V12 from Aston is already a powerhouse with 824 horsepower, the Bodo takes it up a notch by reworking pretty much everything in order to achieve almost a thousand horsepower. This drop-top cabrio makes 985 horsepower after the Brabus treatment.
That kind of rework includes a heavily modified ram-air system, high-efficiency charge-air cooling, two special turbochargers, a stainless steel exhaust system that was made with 3D metal printing, and a tune to bring it all together. The result is 985 horsepower and 885 lb-ft of torque that propels this 2+2 to 62 miles per hour in just 3.0 seconds. Zero to 124 miles per hour happens in just 8.5 seconds. From 0 to 186 miles per hour, the Bodo achieves that in 23.9 seconds. Finally, the top speed is electronically limited to 223 miles per hour.
Brabus
“As He Would Have Driven It”
Getting all that power to the ground is a set of double-wishbone front suspension and multi-link rear units that are done with KW Suspension components. The system is adaptive and electronically controlled and complete with a front lift system. The Bodo rides on a set of 22-inch forged alloy wheels that have Bodo-specific Pirelli P Zero tires, and stopping power is handled by six-piston brake calipers on all four corners.
Inside, it’s pure luxury with leather all around and Brabus’ “Shell” quilting all over. The brand spared no expense to create a cabin that’s one of the purest expressions of a grand tourer. Of course, if a customer expressed interest in a Bodo of their own and Brabus has an allocation, the brand stated that it can customize the interior to meet its client’s tastes.
Of course, grabbing an allocation from Brabus for its Bodo Cabriolet might prove difficult, as there are only 77 units of this drop-top available, with a starting price of $1.24 million.
Brabus
