Just bought a Mercedes-AMG GT63 and finding it a bit… dull? We’ve got great news for you. It’s called Brabus.
Founded in 1977 by German petrolheads Bodo Buschmann and Klaus Brackmann, Brabus – a portmanteau of their surnames – is one of the world’s leading and most respected aftermarket tuning businesses, having wicked up all manner of cars from Mercedes-Benzes to Smarts, and for decades.
In the case of the decidedly plain, 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 GT63, Brabus will crank the power to 684kW and torque to 1550Nm, fit an exhaust that sounds like a grizzly bear stepping on a bit of Lego, and apply more carbon-fibre bits than you can poke a stick at. Zero to 100km/h takes just 2.8 seconds with all-wheel-drive, while the top speed rises to 316km/h.
Perhaps most important of all, you’re unlikely to see another Brabus-fettled GT63 anywhere, exclusivity being part of the Brabus formula.
The wild, Brabus-tuned GT63 is just one of 43 fire-breathing offerings from the German powerhaus, which is located near Dusseldorf in west Germany. Other cars include almost comically extroverted, modified G Class SUVs, but also Porsche 911 Turbos – cars that could hardly be described as slow from the factory.
The first Brabus-tuned car appeared in 1983 – a V8-converted Mercedes-Benz 190E. With the four-cylinder in the bin, Brabus had built the most powerful 190E in the world – and captured plenty of attention in the process. Brabus went on to build its brand on big-power, tyre-smoking rear-drive sedans (which makes it all the more unsurprising the brand is well-known in Australia). Some Brabuses were the fastest production vehicles on the planet at the time, even giving Mercedes-Benz’s own in-house tuner, AMG, a very solid run for its money.
These days the business has expanded into many different niches – continuing the legacy of founder Buschmann, who passed away in 2018. His son Constantin Buschmann has picked up where the old man left off. Of course, Brabus will happily wick up your Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Range Rover or Porsche road car, but they’ll also fully restore your classic 300 SL Roadster or 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet if you wish. Brabus even does boats.
Part of the Brabus business also includes, curiously, bullet-proofing cars – Mercedes G Classes, to be exact. Brabus will fit your G Class with bullet-proof panels that are certified by the German National Testing and Certification Office for Weapons and Security Engineering. We’d bet they’d also print any user manuals in Russian.
In Australia, Brabus is distributed by Zagame Automotive – one of the country’s largest luxury car dealers. That means that if you pull up next to a GT63 at a set of traffic lights, maybe check it’s not decked out in a suspicious amount of carbon-fibre before you consider challenging it at the red light grand prix.