Manufacturers  /  Brabus

Brabus

Bottrop, Germany · est. 1977

The tuner that became a manufacturer.

Models
3
Top value
€1.1M
Period
1977–
Explore modelsManufacturer profile
Brabus — manufacturer stage

Curated entry points

The essential Brabuss

Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition.

2026–

Bodo

The founder’s Gran Turismo — 1,000 hp of hand-built V12 biturbo, 77 cars from Bottrop.

Collectibility
89 / 100
Indicative value
€1.1M
2024–

Rocket GTS

The exposed-carbon shooting brake on the SL — 1,000 hybrid hp, 25 cars built to order.

Collectibility
85 / 100
Indicative value
€855k
2024–

Rocket 1000

The widebody four-door that opened the four-digit era — 1,000 hybrid hp, 25 cars.

Collectibility
84 / 100
Indicative value
€477k

Complete catalogue

Every Brabus on file

3 models · 2 families

Bodo

1

Brabus’s first own supercar, named after founder Bodo Buschmann — a hand-built 5.2-litre V12 biturbo Gran Turismo with 1,000 hp, a full carbon body and a series capped at 77 cars, one for each year since 1977.

Rocket

2

Since 2006 the Rocket badge has marked the fastest street-legal Brabus builds. The current family is a 1,000-hp hybrid trio — the Rocket GTS shooting brake and Rocket GTC convertible coachbuilds on the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 S E Performance, and the Rocket 1000 four-door on the GT 63 S E Performance — each carbon-bodied and strictly limited.

The house

The tuner that became a manufacturer.

Bodo Buschmann founded Brabus in Bottrop in the autumn of 1977, still a law student, borrowing the first three letters of co-founder Klaus Brackmann’s surname to sit beside his own. From refining Mercedes-Benz cars it grew into the world’s largest independent automobile refiner — and, unlike a tuner, Brabus holds vehicle-manufacturer status in Germany: its complete cars are built and certified under the company’s own name.

The Rocket badge has marked the fastest interpretations of the idea since 2006, when the Rocket CLS ran 365.7 km/h as the world’s fastest street-legal sedan. Today the Rocket family is a 1,000-hp hybrid trio — the Rocket 1000 four-door and Rocket GTS shooting brake, each limited to 25 cars, and the Rocket GTC convertible coachbuild.

Bodo Buschmann died in April 2018 and his son Constantin took over. In May 2026 the company honoured its founder with its first own supercar: the Bodo, a 1,000-hp 5.2-litre V12 biturbo Gran Turismo limited to 77 cars — one for each year since 1977 — at €1 million before tax, premiered at Lake Como.

Founded
1977
Registered in Bottrop in the autumn of 1977 by law student Bodo Buschmann; the name joins co-founder Klaus Brackmann's surname to his own.
Status
Vehicle manufacturer
Brabus holds manufacturer status in Germany — complete Brabus models are certified under the company's own name, not as badged conversions.
The supercar
Bodo, 2026
The first Brabus with entirely bespoke bodywork: 5.2-litre V12 biturbo, 1,000 hp, 77 cars at €1 million export before VAT.
The Rocket line
1,000 hp
Since 2006 the Rocket badge has marked the world's fastest street-legal sedans; today it is a hybrid trio — Rocket 1000, Rocket GTS and Rocket GTC.
Leadership
Constantin Buschmann
The founder's son, CEO since Bodo Buschmann's death in April 2018 — the second generation of a family-run company.

Selected milestones

A bloodline, not a list.

  1. 1977

    Founded in Bottrop

    Bodo Buschmann registers Brabus in the Ruhr valley while still studying law, refining Mercedes-Benz cars to his own standard.

  2. 2006

    The first Rocket

    The Brabus Rocket, on the Mercedes CLS, runs 365.7 km/h — the world's fastest street-legal sedan, a record the Rocket 800 pushes to 370 km/h in 2012.

  3. 2018

    The second generation

    Bodo Buschmann dies at 62; his son Constantin Buschmann takes over as CEO. One concept stays unfinished — the founder's Gran Turismo.

  4. 2024

    The Rocket goes hybrid

    The Rocket 1000 — a 1,000-hp widebody on the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance, limited to 25 cars — opens the four-digit era.

  5. 2026

    The Bodo

    Brabus premieres its first own supercar at Lake Como: a 1,000-hp V12 biturbo Gran Turismo named after the founder, limited to 77 cars.

What defines Brabus

Manufacturer, not tuner

Everything in-house in Bottrop — engines, aerodynamics, interiors, certification. A complete Brabus is its own make, with its own type plate.

Scarcity by number

The flagship series are capped and numbered — 25 Rockets at a time, 77 Bodos — with the count itself part of the story: 77 for the founding year.

Family-run at heart

Two generations of Buschmanns since 1977. The company's first own supercar carries the founder's first name and his embossed signature in every door.